Ronny Deila: Celtic were 'frightened and scared' during Champions League defeat to Malmo

Scottish champions knocked out early again

(Getty)

Celtic manager Ronny Deila has said his side looked 'frightened and scared' as they fell to defeat in the Champions League qualifier against Malmo.

The Norwegian boss watched on as the Scottish champions threw away a 3-2 first-leg lead to lose 2-0 in Sweden and he must now prepare for life in the Europa League just a year after suffering the same fate last season.

"We looked very uncomfortable on the ball. We looked frightened and scared and that is very disappointing," he said in his media conference afterwards.

"It was a team performance that was not at the level we should expect at these games. We have to learn from this, some very hard learning.

"We knew if we were at our best we had a good chance to go through but we were not even close."

Celtic were knocked out in the play-off round last season by Slovenian side Maribor and Deila is concerned their absence from the Champions League could become a regular feature unless they improve.

"We have shown that the Europa League is the level we have to compete at and it is better than nothing. It is a good competition. The hype about the Champions League is big, everybody wants it so badly.

"You have to deal with it but we looked very stressed. We didn't look like we wanted to go out and play football. We have a lot of young players coming through but this was a hard lesson for us."