Celtic boss O'Neill surprised to reach 1,000 matches as a manager

Celtic interim boss Martin O'Neill said he felt "real surprise" at being told he was going to take charge of his 1,000th game as a manager this week.

The Northern Irishman will reach the landmark when Celtic host Stuttgart in their Europa League play-off first leg on Thursday.

O'Neill, 73, is in his second spell as interim coach this season after being in charge of the Glasgow giants from 2000-2005.

"It's a real surprise because I'd never counted the games, genuinely never," said O'Neill on Wednesday.

"So when the LMA (League Managers Association) told me yesterday about it, it did come as a big surprise to me.

"It's nice to do, really pleasing but I have to thank Celtic, otherwise it wouldn't have happened."

Celtic are unbeaten since O'Neill took charge again following the sacking of Wilfried Nancy in January.

They have since closed to within three points of Scottish Premiership leaders Hearts, with a game in hand, and reached the Europa League knock-out phase.

O'Neill, asked if he might extend his current Celtic stint beyond the end of this season, replied: "That's too far in the future for me, genuinely too far in the future."

Celtic are bidding to win a European knock-out tie for the first time since beating Barcelona in the 2003-04 UEFA Cup fourth round under O'Neill.

"This is a major test for us," said O'Neill of facing Stuttgart, who sit fourth in the Bundesliga.

"If you'd been having a conversation with me after Midtjylland (3-1 loss), you would have got long odds about being here this evening.

"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."