Sebastian Tounekti believes Celtic “have to be” in the Champions League as Martin O’Neill’s side prepare for their crucial play-off against LASK.
The Hoops host the Austrian champions in Wednesday night’s first leg in Glasgow, with a place in the lucrative league phase at stake.
Tounekti is expecting an intense test from LASK but believes Celtic can use the Celtic Park atmosphere to their advantage.
The winger said via The National: “With teams from Austria, you know they’re going to be really intense.
“They want to press and they want to play, so it’s going to be two really hard games, both home and away. But we have the chance on Wednesday and we have to be ready because we’re going to have amazing support behind us.
“I know that will be to our advantage.”
Tounekti heads into the European showdown having opened his account for the season during Saturday’s 4-0 Premier Sports Cup victory over Dundee United at Tannadice.
Adding more goals and assists has been identified as an important next step in the 23-year-old’s development.
He said: “It’s always nice to score your first goal of the season.
“One of my development points was to produce more because I feel like I have it in me. I’m doing the hard work on the pitch, but I want to add goals and assists to my game.
“I’m really pleased to have the first one now, so hopefully there are more coming.”
That is something Tounekti has been working on with Celtic assistant Shaun Maloney, with the pair discussing his attacking output before the summer break.
Tounekti said: “We spoke a lot last season and, before I went on holiday, I promised him I would work hard during the break.
“He saw that I could be a player who scores a lot of goals and makes a lot of assists.”
Celtic also have a Premier Sports Cup quarter-final against Rangers at Ibrox on the horizon, but Tounekti insists nobody is looking beyond the immediate task of securing Champions League football.
He said: “I think Celtic, as a club, has to be in the Champions League.
“These are massive games and we want to do everything we can to go through. As a club and as a fanbase, we deserve to be there and to play those big games.
“The group, the staff and everyone together are really looking forward to it.”
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1 Comment
Would like to think that a renewed confidence within Seb, will make him a far more productive player this season?
Had the pressure of trying to impress last season, in trying to earn a world cup squad place?
Only for it to be a horrible experience, so now can fully focus upon his club career with ourselves now?
Personally believe that the world cup experience Seb endured, could and will be used to our advantage?
Especially as he already knows that there is no hiding place within our club. And doubt he wants to experience the effects of that world cup experience again imo?
And that’s only avoided by delivering for ourselves?
Still believe that he is capable, even if the defensive side of his game, remains suspect at present imo?