Celtic are motivated to test themselves against the biggest teams in Europe and make a return to the UEFA Champions League group stages, according to assistant manager Chris Davies.

The Hoops played a part in this season’s Champions League pool phase but fell out after drawing three matches and losing three against Barcelona, Manchester City and Borussia Monchengladbach.

Nevertheless, Davies insisted the Scottish Premiership champions were keen to go back up against the biggest teams on the continent and said:

“The Champions League is a better place with Celtic in it. Everyone would agree with that. It would be great to play against one of the big teams again next year and measure ourselves in terms of where we are at as a team against them. That’s the aim, we want to be at the highest level, representing Celtic, making our fans proud on the biggest stage and that is what we’re aiming for.”