KIERAN TIERNEY spoke to the media today ahead of tomorrow evening’s latest meeting with Rosenborg at Celtic Park, this time in the Europa League.
The Norwegians were of course visitors to Celtic Park back in July and on that occasion they took an early lead before the Hoops fought back for a well deserved 3-1 win and in truth it should have been 4 or 5 that night.
“It’s going to be different to the knockouts,” KT said.
“It will be much more open. The way we bounced back from that game was magnificent. We showed character that night and hopefully we don’t do go behind this time, but if we do we know we can come back.
“We know what we’re in for. We’ve played them and did our video analysis as well, I’m sure they have also, so it’ll be a tough game.
“The start of the game will be important for us. We’ll look to get out sharp, press well and hopefully get a few goals.”
Joining Celtic and Rosenborg in the Europa League Group are the two Red Bull teams from Austria, FC Salzburg and from Germany RB Leipzig. It is going to be tough to progress to the knock-out rounds after Christmas but that is the objective that Brendan Rodgers has set for his players.
“The aim is always progression,” Kieran said. “We would like to go through of course. The aim is to win all our home games and pick up what we can away.
“We’re looking for an improvement from last year. We came third in the Champions League group but didn’t do ourselves justice away from home, but if we can better that this year then that’s progression.
“It’s going to be another tough test for us. Every game’s hard home and away and this will be no different.
“The Europa League is another great tournament. It’s a huge honour to represent Celtic at it as well.
“I’m grateful for the chances I’ve got here so if I can play in this game, then that’s brilliant. The crowd deserve it. They are with us in every game, home and away. Everything we do is for them so hopefully we can give them something to cheer about against Rosenborg.”
