Former Celtic manager Ronny Deila believes that striker Leigh Griffiths has the quality to score goals in Europe for the SPL champions next season.
Deila knows all about the 26-year-old’s goalscoring ability as Griffiths was the talisman for the club when the Norwegian was in charge at Celtic Park.
During his two-year stint in Scotland, Deila won two consecutive league titles with the Hoops and the striker played an instrumental role, notching up a total of 60 goals in this period, finishing as the club’s top goalscorer for two seasons in a row.
Deila was unable to lead Celtic into the Champions League group stages in his time as they fell short at the playoff stage and had to settle for a place in the Europa League.
Speaking to the Scottish Sun, the former Celtic boss is confident that the Scottish striker can deliver the goods in Europe next season as Celtic prepare to face Linfield in a Champions League qualifying match on Friday.
“Leigh can score goals in Europe for Celtic.
“He showed that during my time and again last season for Brendan.
“He is a goalscorer and it doesn’t matter what level Leigh plays at — he is a finisher. I watched the Scotland game and when they got those free kicks against England I said to my friends, Leigh will score!”
The Scotland international failed to score in any of the three Champions League matches last season as Celtic failed to record a single win in the group stages.
Griffiths has never managed to score in the Champions League group stages but he has delivered the goods in the qualifying rounds, scoring a total of eight goals in 17 matches.