Stuart Armstrong knows what he wants from next season- a place in the group stage of the Champions League.
Celtic will have to navigate their way through three qualifying rounds before the end of August to join the elite clubs in the premier competition.
Armstrong has watched from afar as Celtic take on, and beat, giants like Barcelona, AC Milan and Manchester United and would love to get a slice of the action.
The double signing of Armstrong and Gary Mackay-Steven strengthened Celtic’s defence of the SPFL title with both players brought in with Europe in mind.
Armstrong scored a memorable goal against Inter Milan in the Europa League but has his sights set on helping Celtic the big time of the Champions League.
“To play in the group stages like some of the boys have done in previous years would be a phenomenal experience,” the midfielder said.
“To go from watching the games on the TV to playing in them would be great and play at all these big European stadiums would be fantastic.
“On the biggest scale and the importance of it the games against Inter were two of the biggest I’ve played in and probably two of the most I’ve enjoyed as well. They were a great experience and keep me in good stead for next season.”
Armstrong played a great supporting role in Scott Brown’s goal at Aberdeen and is looking to sign the season off with wins against St Johnstone and Inverness Caley Thistle.
Trophy day at Celtic Park will be a special moment for the midfielder who suffered a 6-1 hiding against Ronny Deila’s side at the start of the season.
“It’s been a while since I’ve won anything, going back to my boys’ club days,” he recalled. “But I’m also still keeping my focus on the two games still to be played.
“We want to get the maximum amount of points and I think we showed at the weekend that we were very focused on getting the three points and making it four wins out of four.”