Celtic putting the emphasis on attack

Celtic manager Ronny Deila has urged his players to take their league form into the European scene tonight against Astra Giurgiu (8.05pm, live on 3e).

Celtic top Europa League Group D with four points from two games and will remain firmly in the driving seat if they come out on top in an upcoming double header with Romanians Astra Giurgiu.

Deila’s men are fifth in the Scottish Premiership but the Norwegian wants them to use Saturday’s 5-0 win over Ross County as the blueprint for the attacking game he seeks.

Celtic’s win in the Europa League owed much to the goalkeeping of Craig Gordon and a strong defensive display as they beat Dinamo Zagreb 1-0 at Parkhead.

And Deila wants a more offensive display against the Romanians at Celtic Park tonight.

“I hope we can see much more, but I think we have proved we have a very good spirit in all the games in Europe,” he said.

“We work hard and defend quite well. I think we can create more but in the last two weeks we have started to do that in Scotland and I hope we can do that in the Europa League.

“Scoring five goals at the weekend was very good and I think we could have maybe scored more goals if needed. Scoring four goals in half an hour was quality.”

Astra, who appointed former USSR striker Oleg Protasov as manager earlier this month, suffered a 5-1 defeat by Dinamo Zagreb in their opening game but only lost 2-1 against Salzburg and Deila has warned they will be dangerous.

“It’s a very important match and if we can win we put ourselves in a very good position. If we can win two games against them then that will be fantastic, but they are a very good team.”