Deila Hails Tierney Despite Celtic Defeat

Kieran Tierney provided a ray of hope on a "dark day" for Celtic as Europa League hopes dimmed further with a 2-1 defeat to Molde, according to boss Ronny Deila.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's Norwegian outfit clinched qualification from Group A at Parkhead with goals by Mohamed Elyounoussi and skipper Daniel Hestad either side of a Kris Commons leveller with Hoops midfielder Nir Bitton red carded in the second half for a 'last man' foul on substitute, Ola Kamara.

Deila's side remain bottom of the section with two points from four games and need to beat Ajax at home and Fenerbahce away to qualify.

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.

He said: "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)

"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."

Another dismal night for Deila's side in Europe means his future will come under the spotlight again but he is "confident" that the Celtic board will give him the time needed.

The former Stromsgodset manager is also optimistic about the Scottish champions' hopes of joining Molde in the knockout stages.

Celtic drew 2-2 with both Ajax and Fenerbahce earlier in the campaign which encourages Deila to believe that chances of qualifying were "realistic, of course. We have drawn against both teams before.

"Molde showed they are the best team in the group.

"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 (Celtic board) I would stick with Ronny.

"I know Ronny and I know his ideas of playing football and he is a very good coach."