A Champions League final between England's top two teams, Chelsea and Manchester United, has guaranteed the SPL winners direct entry to the group stages of next season's tournament.

But Strachan has fond memories of their epic third qualifying-round clash against Spartak Moscow, who they knocked out on penalties following an exciting 1-1 draw at Celtic Park.

While chief executive Peter Lawwell might already be savouring the prospect of a guaranteed £10million windfall if Celtic win the SPL, Strachan is thinking only of the honour.

"There's pride at stake here, trust me," the Celtic manager said. "It means more than money.

"I would not have changed the way we qualified this season. I would not have liked to have missed the Spartak Moscow tie in my career.

"I just thought it was fantastic. The game at Celtic Park had everything. You take what's given in your life and that's one of the best nights I've had in football."

Celtic will ensure they are in the title race until the end of the season if they beat Hibernian at Parkhead on Sunday.

Rangers could still overtake them if they win games in hand at Motherwell and St Mirren. But the SPL season would be set for a thrilling finale in the closing day of the top-six season.

"Really we're just thinking about this game on Sunday because if we know if win it on Sunday it goes to the last game of the season," Strachan said.

"Everyone else bar Rangers will be happy if it goes to the wire because it keeps the excitement going.

"It would be nice if we kept it going to the last game of the season at least.

"I would be proud of the players and what they've had to put up with, and even when the results weren't very good I had no complaints about the way they performed."

Strachan is confident of having a full squad for the final game at Dundee United on May 22.

A four-day extension to the SPL season to accommodate Rangers' fixture backlog will force Australia striker Scott McDonald and Japan midfielder Shunsuke Nakamura to delay their return home to prepare for World Cup qualifiers.

And Georgios Samaras is expected to join up with his Greece team-mates after the Tannadice clash as they prepare to defend their European Championship crown.

Strachan said: "We've got clearance from the Australians for the end of the season with Scott. I think that Naka is not a problem either.

"It's just Sami we're waiting on just now but I don't think that will be too big a problem."