Cluj boss Dan Petrescu reveals how close he was to becoming Celtic manager

Petrescu, who was the manager of Dinamo Moscow in Russia at the time, admitted that he spoke to representatives of the Scottish champions and was tempted to move to Glasgow to replace Neil Lennon. However, the former right back turned them down and Ronny Deila ended up taking the job instead.

“It was a friend of mine who invited me to Scotland,” he said. “I told this agent that I was really interested in being the coach of Celtic but I had a good contract and I didn’t want to leave my club. I was at Dinamo Moscow. I know Celtic came with a good offer for me, but unfortunately for me it was the wrong time.

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“I don’t know who called me, I don’t remember. Somebody from the club, I don’t remember who it was. Was I close to taking the job? Very close. Very close. That would been fantastic for me. It’s a great club. I think everybody in the world would want to coach Celtic, all the coaches.”

Meanwhile, Petrescu, who won the UEFA Cup and European Super Cup during his time at Stamford Bridge, has claimed that Celtic are capable of emulating Ajax, who reached the semi-final of the Champions League last season, in future if they can hold onto their best players.

“If they qualify I’m sure they will do well because they have a very young team and also big quality,” he said. “I am the coach of Cluj, I don’t want them to, but they have a big chance. They have good players with quality and speed. I think Celtic one day, if they don’t sell the players, can become like Ajax and do what they did last year.

“I like (Ryan) Christie and (Mikey) Johnston. Christie has scored six goals already this season. The striker (Odsonne) Edouard is also very good. Also (Scott) Brown I think is very important for the balance of the team he is a very clever player and he knows where to be at the right time. He is the most experienced player in the team.

“But alongside him (Callum) McGregor is also very, very clever. I think they have good players all over the pitch and they can win against any team, not only against Cluj.”

Petrescu, whose Cluj team has beaten Astana and Maccabi Tel Aviv in the previous two rounds, believes Celtic are strong favourites to progress to the play-off against Czech club Slavia Prague.

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“We are not very lucky to draw Celtic at this moment,” he said. “I watched them play and I was impressed. In the first five games this season they have scored 19 goals and conceded only two. I am sure that tomorrow is going to be very tough for us.

“We need a perfect game and not to concede a goal, because that will be very important. But with the way Celtic play it will be very difficult to stop them. All over the pitch they have quality and this will be our main problem: how to stop them scoring.”

Cluj have been involved in the Champions League group stages three times in the past, but Petrescu said: “It was a long time ago. For the last seven or eight years we haven’t been in the group stage of the Champions League and it will be a miracle for us to arrive in the group stage.

“Of course, we haven’t invested enough, we don’t have enough money. It’s difficult to build great teams to reach the group stage and that’s why we have lost co-efficient points with Uefa and we cannot qualify directly for the group stage.

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“Ten years ago I was with another club and I was winning the league for Unirea and I played directly in the group stage and beat Glasgow Rangers that I remember, for one. But those were different times. Now to get to the group stage you have to win four games and that is very tough for Romanian teams.

“We need good organisation, good discipline and of course we need a good attitude from the players and luck will also be a part of it, not only tomorrow but on Tuesday. At the moment Celtic look very, very good. In all the goals they score goals and create a lot of chances.”