The former Celtic and Scotland midfielder returned to the club two years ago and helped Deila’s side win two Ladbrokes Premiership titles and a League Cup.
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“I know people are talking about it being a very tough group but we’re being very positive about it. We don’t want to just go over there and say, “listen, let’s have a few pints and a sing-song”.
The 24-year-old defender texted his congratulations to the Leicester keeper after the Foxes’ astonishing first Barclays Premier League title win – and automatic entry into European football’s elite club competition – was confirmed with chasing Tottenham’s 2-2 draw at Chelsea on Monday night. Their points tally will be up there with any championship-winning team.
“They have been very consistent and pushed us a lot”.
He said: “It’s a great challenge to be in at the top end, in the firing line. We want it to be us”, the Scottish striker said.
“It is our job to give them the performance and we will do our best to have a really good game”.
“But you can be sure they will be keen to make it a pretty good day for them and their supporters again”.
“Our target now is to do all we can to finish our season as strongly as possible”.
Now assistant boss with the Republic of Ireland ahead of their Euro 2016 campaign, the former Manchester United legend played for the Scottish giants towards the latter end of his career. “There were spells in the game when we did okay but you need to sustain that if you hope to get the better of a team like Celtic”. “Ultimately, we beat them twice and we probably needed someone else to lay a glove on them as well to get closer to them, but they deserve credit today”.
“We have many good players here so we will see if we use the squad more than we have done, or not”.
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Efe Ambrose replaced the stand-in captain Charlie Mulgrew for the start of the second half and there were only four minutes played when Callum McGregor cut the ball back for Lustig to knock in from eight yards.
