Martin O’Neill goes into his 1000th match as a manager expecting the hardest test of this season as Celtic take on Stuttgart in a Europa League play-off.
“Stuttgart are flying at this moment, they’re fourth in the Bundesliga, they’re in a Champions League position,” the 73-year-old said before Thursday’s first leg in Glasgow.
“They’re obviously very strong, physical, with a lot of good players playing for them. So they’ll be difficult games for us, but while we’re there, let’s go for it.”
O’Neill has lost just once in 18 games across two spells at Celtic this term, away to Midtjylland in this tournament.
When asked how Stuttgart rank as opponents, he replied: “Oh, without a doubt, it would be the toughest, considering the position that they’re in, considering the league that they are in as well. So this would be pretty tough.”
O’Neill’s 300th match as Celtic boss came on Sunday, with a dramatic 3-2 victory over Kilmarnock.
On his latest landmark he explained: “It’s a real surprise because I’d never counted the games, genuinely never, and when the LMA [League Managers Association] told me yesterday about it, it did come as a big surprise to me.
“It’s nice to do and it’s really pleasing, but I have to thank Celtic for doing it otherwise it wouldn’t have happened.
“If you’d seen my early matches at Leicester City in late 1995, early 1996, you’d have got long odds of me doing 1000 games in that time.”