RONNY Deila wants Celtic to return to the level of last season’s Europa League away game against Inter when they play Ajax in the Amsterdam ArenA on Thursday night.

The Norwegian remains haunted by his most recent European experience, the badly off-colour performance in Malmo which resulted in Celtic’s failure to reach the Champions League group stage. Deila’s side were also beaten in Milan seven months ago, but played for almost two thirds of the game with 10 men after Virgil van Dijk was sent off and gave a good account of themselves before being torpedoed by Fredy Guarin’s superb 88th-minute goal.

Celtic, like Ajax, find themselves in the reduced circumstances of the Europa League, a position all the more poignant given that the first matches between the clubs were in 1971, when the Dutch side won a European Cup quarter-final en route to winning the trophy for the first time at Wembley. Even two years ago the clubs met in the Champions League, with the home team winning the group games on each occasion.

Yet, if the Europa League is second string it has at least provided the Scottish champions with an attractive group. As well as Ajax, another club with a good European pedigree, Fenerbahce, are in the mix and favourites to win it. There is also a good pairing for Deila and fellow Norwegian Stefan Johansen with a return home to play Molde.

Deila, who was in the process of silencing many of his early critics, was hit hard by the Malmo result and performance. It didn’t take long for the snipers to line him up in their sights again, and the manager needs a good Europa League campaign, starting in Amsterdam.

“Ajax are a very young team and they have a very clear style of play,” he said. “With Ajax you look at the individuals rather than the style of play because you know what you are going to meet. It’s a team that want to keep the ball and move from side to side and play offensive football.”

Asked if his side could put the Malmo debacle behind them quickly, Deila said: “I didn’t recognise ourselves. For me it is to get back to the Qarabag level [in the previous round] and defend very well.

“It has to start with that – aggression and positivity in defence. When we have chances we have to keep the ball, but also attack them hard when we have possibilities. In a way you have to be more cautious and take your chances when you get them.

“In Malmo we were not really offensive, and not good defensively. It was a lesson that we have to learn from, but I can’t say that’s how we’ve been in the other away games. We were good away against Inter and I want to see a Celtic team that is more like that than the one in Malmo. That was not the level we want to be at.

“We looked as if we were protecting something instead of attacking something. It shocked everybody [what happened in Malmo], because in Milan we went for the game and had a good plan. Against Malmo it was like we had everything to lose and that’s something we have to deal with.”

Deila has no quibble with the prediction of Frank de Boer, the former Rangers player and Ajax manager, that the most likely group winners will not be seen in Amsterdam on Thursday, but in Istanbul, where big spending Fenerbahce are expected to get their campaign off to a conclusive start against Molde.

“That’s a fair assessment, but money is not everything and we can beat Fenerbahce,” Deila said. “We are going to give them a fight, but of course if you look at it that way they have brought in top-class players and are a strong team.

“It’s going to be a tough group and the first step for us is to get through [to the knock-out stages] and get playing football in February. Then everything can happen when you get in there. It’s basically about the luck of the draw and about quality and we have to show that we are even better than last year.

“Ajax have the same demands as here at Celtic. It’s going to be a very tough game, but I am confident we can get something from Amsterdam.”

Deila believes he has made a good signing in Jozo Simunovic, even if the tall Croatia Under-21 captain won’t immediately mitigate the loss of Celtic’s best player, van Dijk, to Southampton.

“He’s a very talented player and has the attributes we’re looking for in a central defender,” the manager said of the young Croat. “He was our first choice and we’re very happy to have him, but he’s 21 years old and somebody we have to develop through experience.”

Johansen, who has returned from international duty for Norway, where he met up with his good pal and the scourge of Celtic in the Malmo ties, Jo Inge Berget, said: “I’ve never played in Amsterdam, but my friend Markus Henriksen plays for Alkmaar and I have seen them playing Ajax.

“They are a big team and have always developed a lot of great players. We want to bounce back and prove to everyone that we are a better team than we showed against Malmo.”