Alan Stubbs admits Rangers have raised the standard for Scottish clubs in Europe by qualifying for the lucrative Champions League - and warns that Celtic cannot afford to be left behind.
The Parkhead outfit meet Hapoel Tel Aviv tonight (7.45) in a UEFA Cup first round first-leg tie Stubbs hopes signals the start of a Celtic run to keep pace with Rangers' progress.
He accepts the Ibrox outfit's memorable Champions League qualifying round success over UEFA Cup holders Parma will lead the Celtic faithful to demand the same level of achievement from their club.
Stubbs said: "It's fair to say the Celtic supporters want us to do well in Europe and looking from the fans' perspective they'll want us to do well because Rangers are now in the Champions League.
"Some people will make comparisons about how far we'll go in the UEFA Cup and it's important for the club we do go a long way because Europe is the place to be and where we want to be.
"The main priority is winning the league, but right behind it, and I mean right behind, is to do well in Europe.
"It's difficult to say how far we can go in the UEFA Cup, but I think we can go further than in previous years, there's certainly potential in the team but it depends on the luck of the draw.
"If we don't do well we may be called this or that because of what Rangers have done this year, we shouldn't look too far ahead, but I think we have to target the third round stage at least with the players we have."
Stubbs added: "Since I've come here we've not really done that well in Europe with the last couple of years especially disappointing.
"Last year when we went out of the UEFA Cup to Zurich we had a lot of injuries at that time, this year I'd be confident of going through against that team, it just came at the wrong time for us.
"It was disappointing too to miss out on the Champions League especially after the result in the first-leg against Croatia Zagreb even given their quality as a team.
"I think everyone knows it's always important to do well domestically, but when you look at the European scene now it's just so big and there's a lot of money to be made.
Stubbs recently issued a veiled threat to Celtic head coach John Barnes he would consider his future options if left out the team, but insists now he is settled at Parkhead and ready to sign an extended contract.
He explained: "I feel happy with the way I'm playing and I always said that once I was back in the team all of these things would take care of themselves. I feel that something will probably happen quite soon now.
"I don't worry myself with these things, but I'm sure my agent will be in contact in the near future because things are fine for me right now."
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