Sebastian Tounekti wants to help Celtic make their mark in Europe

Sebastian Tounekti is determined to help Celtic make their mark in Europe after watching former club Bodo/Glimt pull off another major upset.

The Norwegian side added Manchester City to their list of unlikely conquests when they beat Pep Guardiola’s side 3-1 in the Champions League on Tuesday.

Tounekti scored his first goal as a professional in a 6-1 Europa League win over Kauno Zalgiris for Bodo/Glimt but has watched their European scalps get bigger and better from afar.

“The result was really amazing for them, especially when you see the history,” the wide player said. “So it’s brilliant for them.

“But when you play at Celtic, every game is big. And when we play in Europe, we want to win matches like that.

“And of course we can take inspiration, but we just have to focus on ourselves and try to get better.”

Celtic have shown signs of improvement after the chaotic Wilfried Nancy reign, which saw them lose six games inside a month.

Tounekti missed much of the turbulence while at the Africa Cup of Nations but is glad to be back under the tutelage of Martin O’Neill, who has now won 10 out of 11 games in charge over his two spells this season.

“There have been some ups and downs and now I feel like we are on the right path,” the Tunisia international said.

“I feel like the group are together. And we just want to win games.

“As everyone knows, when you play for Celtic, you have to win every game, and everyone is understanding that. So of course it’s been difficult when we have lost.

“But I feel like as a group we are really strong and we just have to stay together.

“I feel like we are on the right path now and for us it’s just to keep going now, because we have so many important games upcoming now.”

Tounekti has returned from Morocco with a spring in his step and appears to be getting back to the form he showed in his initial games with Celtic before experiencing a dip.

“It was my first competition for a national team,” the 23-year-old said. “So the experience was really amazing.

“Of course we wanted to go further, but it was a great experience and I came back with a lot of energy and just tried to help Celtic win games.”

Tounekti, who scored an impressive goal against Auchinleck Talbot on Sunday, added: “As a winger, I want to produce goals and to make assists. And maybe I have lacked a little bit of that. So for me to score at the weekend was an amazing feeling. I just want to build on that.

“I just try to work really hard on the pitch with the coaches. We have so many great players in our team who I train with a lot. And I try to do some extra, try to improve every day, try to watch videos.

“And also I think maybe one of my main issues is that I haven’t scored the easier goals, like to be on the back post to score those goals. So that’s also what we’ve been watching videos about. Hopefully I can score more of those also.”