Ronny Deila hasn’t given up on Europa League progress despite another dismal group stage loss for his Celtic side.
The Scottish champions slumped to a 2-1 home defeat at Parkhead against Norway’s Molde on Thursday.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side clinched qualification from Group A, with Celtic sitting rock bottom and needing six points from games with Ajax and Fernerbahce to progress.
"Molde showed they are the best team in the group,” said the under-fire Deila.
"We can beat Ajax here and we can beat Fenerbahce down there. We are going to fight to the end for those six points."
Solskjaer, who only returned for his second spell as boss at Molde before the 3-1 win over Celtic last month, was ‘delighted’ with his side's achievement.
The former Manchester United striker urged the Parkhead board to keep faith with fellow Norwegian Deila.
He said: "He has been under pressure since he came to Celtic. If I was them I would stick with Ronny.
"I know Ronny and I know his ideas of playing football and he is a very good coach."
Kieran Tierney provided a ray of hope on a dismal night for Celtic on Thursday.
Molde clinched qualification with goals by Mohamed Elyounoussi and skipper Daniel Hestad either side of a Kris Commons leveller.
Hoops midfielder Nir Bitton red carded in the second half for a 'last man' foul on substitute, Ola Kamara.
One plus point for the Norwegian boss to focus on as he tried to map a way forward for the club was the performance of 18-year-old left-back Tierney, who justified Deila's decision to keep him in the side at the expense of Honduras international Emilio Izaguirre.
"It is about developing a team that can get into the Champions League and to get a green line through the whole system from youth, so we can get players like K.T. (Tierney),” said Deila, pictured above.
"He played with his heart, he had an unbelievable performance and that is a positive thing on a dark day.
"But it was individual mistakes again. We need to have much more character and pride.
"We have to win challenges, one versus one, but we lost that game inside the two boxes and that is disappointing."
