Adam Matthews targets Euro progress and Celtic treble next season
Sunday 10 May 2015 11:39, UK
Adam Matthews hopes Celtic can take the momentum from their fourth successive title win into next season’s Champions League qualifiers.
Celtic visit Aberdeen this weekend as double winners, with Ronny Deila lifting the Premiership and the Scottish League Cup in his first season in charge of the club.
But Celtic’s Champions League campaign got off to a disastrous start under the Norwegian. After earning a reprieve and taking Legia Warsaw’s place in the play-off stage following an administration error from the Polish club, Celtic were knocked out by Maribor.
And Matthews is convinced Celtic can reach the group stages of next season’s Champions League if they can reproduce the form which has seen them lose only one league game this calendar year.
He said: "It was tough when (Deila) came in, it took us a while to adapt to what he wanted to do. We really should have beaten Maribor in the qualifiers but we didn't.
"But since Christmas we have really pushed on and I have really enjoyed it. If we can start next season the way we finished this season we can get to the Champions League, which is our first aim. It is very important for everybody at Celtic. It's a massive club that belongs in the Champions League.
"Every player who has had a taste of it wants to be back and I'm sure if we start the way we finished this season, we'll be back. We want to start the league well, go well in the cups and hopefully win the treble, that is our aim."
Live SPFL Football
Celtic have an 11-point lead over second-place Aberdeen with three games remaining this season. But Matthews insists there will be no letting up for the Hoops, who are keen to demonstrate why they have been crowned champions for the fourth successive year.
Matthews added: "Aberdeen have pushed us this season and we want to show them that we deserved to win the league. When you play at Celtic you always have pressure from the manager and fans.
"We want to finish the season as strongly as we can and even though we have won the league we want to get maximum points from the last few games. But all credit to Aberdeen, they really pushed us to the last few games of the season."
