SIR ALEX FERGUSON hopes Celtic can give Scottish football a timely shot in the arm by booking their place in the Champions League group stages.

Ronny Deila’s side have progressed past Stjarnan and Qarabag to reach the play-off round and are now just 180 minutes away from a seat at European football’s top table once again.

Swedish side Malmo stand in the Hoops’ way in the coming days as Deila attempts to lead his side into the last 32 of the competition for the first time.

Celtic will look to take a huge step towards Euro glory by claiming a first leg victory at Parkhead this evening and managerial legend Ferguson is confident our final continental hopes can secure a safe passage through to the next round.

He said: “I think it would be an achievement because Scottish teams over the last few years have found it very difficult in the Champions League.

“What Celtic have achieved at the moment, they have got to this stage and they can get into the Group Stage. I think the challenge is not beyond them.

“I don’t know a lot about Malmo but Swedish football is not as strong as it was say twenty years ago when they were continually doing very well in Europe, and their national team was doing very well at that time too.

“So it is not beyond them and I do hope they proceed because it is great for Scottish football if we are doing well in Europe.”

While it is on the continent that Deila and his side will be most critically judged by the Parkhead crowd this season, there is little room for error on the domestic scene in the coming months.

The champions saw off an impressive challenge from Aberdeen last term before finally clinching their fifth successive top flight crown.

Hearts are currently top of the Premiership standings with four wins from four while Aberdeen have nine points from their three outings.

And former Dons boss Ferguson believes the added competition at the top of the table is healthy for our national game after a prolonged period of Glasgow dominance.

“It has been thirty years or so since anyone outside the Old Firm has won the league and I do think it is great for Scottish football,” he told Radio Clyde.

“If you go back to the fifties and sixties when Dundee, Hearts and Hibs were winning league titles against the Old Firm, and then Aberdeen and Dundee United spell when I was there and Jim McLean was at Dundee United, it was healthy for Scottish football.

“We need that and I don’t think even Celtic would deny that. It is great for the competition, it is great for the fans. I genuinely believe that Aberdeen are very positive.

“They have got a new manager, who has done a great job. I met the owner of Hearts (Ann Budge) in the summer and I was really impressed with how she set about changing the fortunes of Hearts. They are a serious challenger now.

“They have won their opening matches, as Aberdeen have done, and it could be exciting.”