O'Neill confident of extending Varga deal

Martin O’Neill has admitted that only an “unfortunate set of circumstances” will prevent Stanislav Varga from securing a new contract.

The Slovakian defender accepted a short-term deal and a target of 30 appearances this season to secure an extension.

He is still 11 games short of that golden figure but his manager has indicated that his previous target had been thrown out.

O’Neill said: “Stan must have played some games now which would trigger that automatically.

“There would have to be an unfortunate set of circumstances for him now not to get that. He has done very well. He has played consistently well and with Joos (Valgaeren) and Johan (Mjallby) injured he has come into the side and stayed in it.

“His attitude has been terrific and he has shown great determination to make the grade here.”

O’Neill believes praise from Franz Beckenbauer illustrates just how far his side have come in Europe.

The German legend and Bayern Munich president hailed the performance of the Scottish side both in Glasgow and at the Olympic Stadium.

Celtic’s profile in Europe has certainly been raised after last season’s thrilling run to the UEFA Cup final and now they stand just one point away from the Champions League knockout stages.

O’Neill said: “I think that Franz Beckenbauer was very complimentary afterwards about the effort we had put in during both games.

“Had it been anybody else then I would have ignored it. I know that players say things in the heat of the moment. We have done it and Blackburn Rovers have done it in the past.

“But somebody of his standing to come out and say very complimentary things was very nice and very pleasing.

“We are improving and the players can take a lot of heart from things like that.”

Shaun Maloney is already looking forward to the final Group A match and he believes that his team-mates will need to produce the UEFA Cup away form of last season to get at least the draw needed in France.

He said: “We did pretty well in the UEFA Cup last season away and we hope we can rediscover that form.

“At least we know what we need to do and if we don’t do that we are out – it is as simple as that.”

The 20-year-old has been plagued by calf problems but he is hoping that the problem will go away with age.

“Hopefully when I get older it will go away,” said Maloney. “It’s not happened in a few games but it just flared up in that game.

“I knew what it was so I think it will eventually go away.”