Ange Postecoglou didn’t go for the Three Amigos line instead preferred to refer his front three of Jota, Abada and Kyogo as jockeys after the Three Amigos all got on the scoresheet on Thursday night’s superb victory over Ferencvaros in Budapest.
The Celtic manager has two remaining Europa League matches as a draw in Leverkusen and a 2-0 win over Betis should see Celtic through to the knock-out rounds. The Hungarians are a proud lot though and they’ll not be keen on finishing their campaign pointless, perhaps they can do Celtic a favour in Seville on match-day 5? That though the kind of luck we never seem to get so it’s going to be down to Celtic to go to Germany and take something from a side who won 4-0 at Celtic Park but that game could have ended in a 2-2 draw on the balance of play.
Next time perhaps it will be Celtic who take our chances and Joe Hart who turns in a world class goalkeeping performance. Ange was keen to talk about his Three Amigos after their stand-out performances in Budapest.
“Since Jota, Liel and Kyogo have come here, their stock has risen. I think that is because of the platform we give them to let the boys play,” the Celtic manager told the mainstream media, as reported by Scottish Sun. “It’s very easy just to focus on the front three. The type of football we play from the back, we play it, so we are not going long to them.
“They are all the size of jockeys, for God’s sake, so we play our balls through midfield and have to give them that platform. They appreciate that and they have to invest in that by working hard defensively, which I think that they do. They get their rewards.”
Ange isn’t prepared to entertain thoughts of Celtic’s Europa League qualification being over and done with as he targets something from the trip to Leverkusen and then a win over Real Betis on match day six. Can Celtic get something in Germany?
“Why not? We did in Betis. They are a good side and won 4-0 the other night, so it’s going to be an enormous task. We’ll go at them as we always have.
“I want to get out of this group first. The win has given us a chance to progress and we are not going to discount that.
“These opportunities don’t come around that often where you can create something special, so let’s go for it.”
