EUROPA LEAGUE/Celtic v Rapid Vienna: TONY MOWBRAY admits Celtic will be "punching above their weight" if they make the Europa League final this season. Celtic, finalists in the Uefa Cup of 2003, have been widely tipped to go a long way in this season's competition but opened their campaign with a defeat to Hapoel Tel Aviv a fortnight ago.

“If we get to the Europa Cup final this year I would suggest we are hugely punching above our weight,” said Mowbray, whose team host Rapid Vienna tonight. “There is a misconception that the Europa League must be easy, that this is not the Champions League and therefore must be straightforward for us. People think we should go a long way in this. It is not as easy as that; they are all difficult games.

“The team at the top of the Bundesliga, Hamburg, is in our group. Rapid Vienna knocked out the team who finished sixth in the English Premier League (Aston Villa) to get to these group stages and beat Hamburg 3-0 in their first game. So is this an easy game? I don’t think so.”

Finances, bluntly, are the cause behind Mowbray’s warning. When Martin O’Neill’s Celtic faced Porto in that Seville final six years ago, high wages and transfer fees were commonplace.

“I would argue that the Celtic of today and the Celtic of 2003 is a different animal,” said Mowbray. “We will still be striving to do our very best. The financial gap between England and other bigger leagues and ourselves is getting bigger and bigger.”

CELTIC (probable 4-4-2): Boruc; Caddis, Loovens, McManus, Fox; McCourt, N’Guemo, Robson, Maloney; McDonald, Killen.