Rene Meulensteen has reflected on the ongoing challenges faced by iconic Scottish Premiership clubs like Celtic and Rangers due to the standard of the rest of the league.

The Australia national team coach feels there's the need for stronger domestic competition to elevate their performances on the European stage, having observed several matches while scouting the growing number of Aussies piling their trade in the Scottish top-flight.

"I go up to Scotland a fair bit because obviously there are quite a few Australian players there," the former Manchester United first team coach told BoyleSports.

"We've got players playing for Hibs, we've got players playing for Hearts, we've got players playing for Motherwell and Dundee. Obviously a few years ago we had Aaron Mooy for Celtic who was an outstanding player, absolutely fantastic.

Read more:

"Every time I have visited Celtic Park or go to Rangers or any other club, it's vibrant. Sometimes Celtic and Rangers are held back by the league they play in, they could hit much higher levels if they had better opposition week in week out and I think that is why they have fallen short in Europe.

"They don't meet that kind of opposition and suddenly they get hit by much stronger teams from abroad."

Looking ahead, Meulensteen is focused on his role as an assistant coach for the Australian national team, but didn't rule out a return into football management in the future. 

He continued: "In terms of myself, I've got these two years ahead of me as Australia assistant and hopefully we expect to qualify for the World Cup again. I thought that was a brilliant experience in Qatar where my career started so many years ago and I'm looking forward to the one in America. 

"After that…I’m keeping my options open. I've obviously got bags of experience, which will help. A Lot of clubs sometimes go for young managers, but I think going for an older experienced manager, but with a young mind, I think that could work as well."