The best has yet to come: Strachan sure his Bhoys will bounce back stronger from their tough Euro lessons

By Peter Jardine for MailOnline Updated: 21:18 EST, 9 December 2008

The Aalborg wounds remain raw for Celtic, with memories still fresh of the dreadful misadventure in Denmark a fortnight ago that cost the club a place in Europe after Christmas.

But neither that capitulation - nor a home fixture against Villarreal that has lost almost all of its lustre - could prevent Gordon Strachan from sketching his vision for a brighter Champions League future for the Hoops.

The Celtic manager believes his Bhoys have continued to learn one valuable lesson after another following three successive years in the group stages, and is convinced that one day they will reap enormous benefits.

Steep learning curve: McGeady and Maloney, pictured at training on Tuesday, will have learned lessons from Celtic's defeats

Striker Scott McDonald reckons the current team learned more about the vagaries of European football this season than ever before, and Strachan could only agree with the Aussie as he delved into the pages of his own glittering career.

He recalled some agonising European nights at Aberdeen, before they carved their place in Scottish football history with a famous win over Real Madrid amid torrential rain in Sweden.

The Dons were out of Europe before Christmas three seasons in a row between 1979 and 1981, with defeats in Germany falling either side of an infamous 4-0 thrashing from a masterful Liverpool team on Merseyside.

'When Alex Ferguson took Aberdeen to the European Cup Winners' Cup in Gothenburg in 1983, we followed that up with a semi-final appearance against Porto in the same tournament the following season,' said Strachan.

'That was a peak for us as players but, trust me, we took two or three good spankings in Europe before we got to that level.

'Liverpool was a good one, aye, when we lost 4-0 at Anfield. Hamburg was a good one, too, and Eintracht Frankfurt, as well. We took some good slaps as a team but we learned from them all.

'With this Celtic team, we've had a lot of enjoyment out of the Champions League over the past three seasons.

'We've had some good displays this season and I honestly feel we deserve more points than we have got - even before we play this game against Villarreal, which could take us to five. The away performances in Villarreal and Aalborg were better than many in recent years. We will try to do it all again next season if we get in.

'If this group of players stays together a bit longer, then they can benefit from these experiences.'

One scenario obviously best avoided in future is the one that presents itself for Celtic this evening: a home game at the end of a group campaign which carries no significant meaning in terms of qualification.

There are fringe benefits riding on the fixture, of course.

Scottish football's image requires a victory or else, for the first time, all our clubs will have passed through a European campaign without a win. Which is bad enough in itself.

Worse, the country's place in UEFA's 'league table' of nations will drop - and the path to the Champions League will become much harder.

Celtic manager Gordon Strachan

Tuesday night's 1-0 home win for Panathinaikos over Anorthosis, seeing them into the last 16, was another hammer blow.

The Greeks won at Inter Milan in their previous game and their surprise qualification wins their country an extra coefficient point.

These risks were spelled out by the media after Aalborg - 'Costly Failure' was Sportsmail's own banner headline - but it has proved enormously difficult for the penny to drop with football people.

Or a £15million automatic qualification penny, if truth be told.

They prefer, instead, to say negativity abounds rather than note a simple illustration of the coefficient goalposts being moved and hurdles placed upon the access path.

'It will help Scottish football's coefficient if we win, but it will only help us if we win the league next season,' said Strachan.

'That's what they tell me, anyway. 'Of course, it is great for any club if they qualify automatically for the group stages. But, having said that, we had a great night here when we beat Spartak Moscow to get through and made a few quid out of it, too.

'I've had it the other way, when we lost out in qualifying, and that's the worst experience, so I suppose there is a benefit in an automatic place.

'Last year, we had Scotland getting to their highest place in the rankings, so we won' t be getting down about what has happened this year.

'Padraig Harrington won two majors this year. If he doesn't win two next year is he going to top himself? I don't think so.

To be fair, I know what goes on. I know the general consensus is there is a mass depression but is that not the case in the west of Scotland anyway?

'A win would help, I suppose, but it won't wipe away the year we've all had.

'Scotland has to do better in general but last season we had a team in the last 16, a team in the UEFA Cup Final and Aberdeen got into the group stages of the UEFA Cup.

Celtic during a training session at Lennoxtown Training Complex on Tuesday

'It was good but it has dropped away a bit this year and if anybody can come up with the answer, then fine.'

It was a nice line about Harrington from Strachan, but he may have missed the point.

The Irishman won't have to pre-qualify for The Open for the rest of his career, as a former winner. Unfortunately, UEFA don't work like that for the Champions League.

Furthermore, a win in the group stages itself carries a £520,000 bounty, not a bad Christmas bonus for Celtic's accounts.

But Strachan won't let players fret about the consequences of facing Manuel Pellegrini's visitors.

'I think once we get into the dressing room it will be fine: they are in good nick and they want to play,' he said.

'Once you set a game in front of these lads, they're happy: they don't care about coefficients, half a million quid. They just play the game.

'We also have a good home record in Europe and that is something we'd love to maintain. The players have pride in that and in themselves, so there's never any problem with motivation with this group. I don't need to fire them up.

'So there is always something to play for on the night. The fans might not be at their bubbly best, for obvious reasons, and we can't ask them to switch on as normal when we all know the circumstances under which the game is being played.'

If the fans thought the game was simply a stepping stone to, say, a quarter-final in 2010 for a stronger, more robust Celtic, then they would certainly be appeased.

Winning the SPL title, therefore, has become the key 'European' issue in Glasgow.

Strachan's selection tonight may even reflect that three days before Csaba Laszlo brings Hearts to Parkhead.