Craig Levein last night stated that his Hearts side should be full of confidence ahead of their short trip down the road to Murrayfield on Sunday after winning 3-0 at Dens Park last night.
Celtic will face the Edinburgh club less than a mile away from their Tynecastle home in Murrayfield stadium as the teams battle it out to make their way into the Betfred Cup final.
Levein, who’s side disposed of Jim McIntyre’s Dundee, spoke about focusing on his team’s short trip to Murrayfield, despite the injustice of rescheduling which has left his team having to play three games in eight days. Two in Edinburgh and one in Dundee.
“We’ve played two matches in a short space of time before the semi-final and won them both. I said to the players they have to take confidence from the form they’re in.
“When the Dundee game got rescheduled, I realised it was on the week of the semi but Celtic play this week as well. I’m not going to complain about it, especially now that we’ve won.”
That’s so nice of him.
It has perhaps slipped Levein’s mind that Celtic will face a trip to and from Leipzig in Eastern Germany to play in the Europa League on Thursday before Sunday’s game at 1:30pm.
Levein reflected upon his route to the final as he was interviewed by the Edinburgh Evening News after the match. The former Scotland boss revealed that his team overcame some tough occasions to secure their place in the semi final by uniting as a team.
“Initially, we had some difficult situations in the Betfred Cup and I think that helped to pull the team together. We lost some points and won a penalty shootout and then had to win a game.”
Aye, lest we forget, had they been deducted 3 points for fielding an unregistered player against Cove Rangers rather than the bizarre decision to take only 2 points from them, then Inverness Caley Thistle would have won that League Cup Group and Hearts would have been out.
Hearts will be a tough opponent for Celtic, especially due to the goalscoring form of Naismith this season. Although recent injuries to first team regulars Souttar and Uche Ikpeazu, along with Christophe Berra will boost Celtic’s chances of breaking down the side that beat them 1-0 on Tynecastle’s tight pitch with long grass back in August. Lafferty scored the winner that day and was the player that Hearts relied upon to score against the Champions. He was sold to Rangers so Levein will need to look elsewhere for goals against Celtic.
And don’t forget that Brendan Rodgers rested several players for that game at Tynecastle ahead of the Champions League qualifier in Athens. It will be a full strength Celtic that Levein is up against on Sunday.
Murrayfield is only a half mile away from Tynecastle, but the pitch is wide and at the grass is short.
That will suit Celtic.
Also on The Celtic Star…and clicking on these links really does assist the site.
Leipzig v Celtic – Lowdown on Bundesliga’s high-flyers RasenBallsport Leipzig…See HERE.
Jim Craig – Bobby Carroll scored Celtic’s first ever goal in European football…See HERE.
Double Blow! Broony and Griffiths ruled out for RB Leipzig v Celtic…See HERE.
Support Matt Corr – After Leipzig, it’s the Parlour and the New York Marathon…See HERE.
