Celtic defender Johan Mjallby is hoping for a return to Helsinki as the Hoops attempt to book their place in the Champions League. Martin O'Neill's men must see off the challenge of Lithuanian outfit Kuanas before taking on either MTK Hungaria or HJK Helsinki in the third qualifying round.
Success in both those games would mean entry into the lucrative group stages of the competition, which Celtic missed out on last year when they were defeated by underdogs FC Basle - even though that led to their UEFA Cup run which took them all the way to the final.
Celtic have already dumped Helsinki out of Europe before - two years ago to progress to the second round of the UEFA Cup - and Mjallby admits he would prefer another trip to Finland rather than venture into the unknown. He said: "The problem for me is that I don't know much about the Hungarian team, so at this moment I would say that I would prefer to play Helsinki."
"It's only a couple of seasons since we played them, after all, and it always helps when you know something about the team you're going to play. That's usually the way anyway, and I think most of the boys would probably agree with me. We have to get through against Kaunas first, though, and then we will have to see which of the teams are the strongest."
Filed by Brendan Cole
