Martin O'Neill reveals Celtic peace talks progress as he addresses Parkhead atmosphere

Celtic Park again will be without the Green Brigade when the club hosts Stuttgart in the first leg of the Europa League knockout play-off round on Thursday night.

The club’s ultras-style group remained banned by the board due to “safety incidents". However, O’Neill revealed peace talks between the two parties have made some headway.

He said: “A full house here at Celtic Park is something special.

“In every European night that I’ve had in the past, teams, and I’m talking about the really major sides, were still very concerned about coming here with the passion, the drive and the noise that’s made.

“I remember our game against Liverpool in that UEFA Cup run, John Robertson, my old friend, was standing beside me and speaking to me.

“I couldn’t hear a word he was saying for the first 10 or 15 minutes, it was so loud. So little bits have been lost from that and that’s regrettable, to use your word.

“I think there has been some discussions which I obviously wasn’t party to but I think that there’s been some progress made.”

The last time Celtic won a two-legged European tie after Christmas was in 2004 under O’Neill, when they beat Barcelona 1-0 over two legs in their UEFA Cup fourth-round tie.

He said: “A long time ago. I didn’t realise that. I was responsible for some results in those days as a manager, both good and bad.

“But please don’t blame me for the intervening 23 years or whatever it may be. I wasn’t around here.

“But it would be nice if we could do that (get through), it genuinely would be.”

Stuttgart finished 11th - 10 places above Celtic - in the Europa League standings and are currently fourth in the German Bundesliga.

On the task ahead, O’Neill added: “This is a major test for us.

“If you’d been having a conversation with me after Midtjylland (3-1 loss), you would have got long odds about being here. We went to Feyenoord and got a great result (won 3-1) and fought with 10 men for about 60 minutes in the match against Bologna (2-2).

“I didn’t want those games to not count for something. So we’re here so we might as well give it a go. They will be difficult games for us, but while we’re there, just let’s go for it.”