CELTIC choose to train at Celtic Park earlier today – Wednesday – rather than head out to St Petersburg for a session ahead of the match against Zenit which kicks off at 9pm local time or 6pm Thursday, Celtic Park time.
Paul the Tim got there as an advance party for the 700 to 800 supporters who have made the journey to brave temperatures as low as minus 15. Paul even had time to catch up with Zenit manager Roberto Mancini before getting his head down for some sleep before match day.
For Paul the Tim this game is important. Mancini might have his mind elsewhere, maybe he is set to become the next Italian team manager, who knows. Hopefully the speculation will unsettle his players and give Paul the Tim, the rest of the support in St Petersburg and all of us nervously watching at home, a night to remember.
— paul the tim (@paulthetim) February 21, 2018
Before the first leg many thought we’d do well to stile in the tie by this stage. We go into the game with it all to play for.
If the Celtic party are well wrapped up for the sub-zero temperatures outside the ground – inside it will be positively cosy with the temperature controlled and the roof closed – then there are a few Celts who will still be kicking around in their t-shirts. We’re thinking KT and also his captain Scott Brown. No-one has any proof that either of them own a jumper or a jacket and they are unlikely to be too bothered by the chill factor, especially as its an indoor match.
Short sleeves in -17C! Can’t wait for tomorrow ???????????????? #ZENCEL pic.twitter.com/vvrb8RWXJR
— Laith Al Naeme (@laithalnaeme) February 21, 2018
Sorry, was heading towards a rant at Charlie Nicholas but it’s not worth it. We’ll lose 3-1 because of the cold and Charlie is getting paid to tell you to gamble your money on it.
Anyway back to ‘Brownie’ as Brendan calls the skipper and his thoughts on the match at the sold-out Krestovsky Stadium, which has a capacity of 67,000.
“It would be fantastic if we were to go through,” said Broony, “but we need to remember that Zenit are a fantastic team. They showed top quality against us when they played away from home, but we played really well in that game too.
“We’re going to need to up our game here because we know it’s going to be difficult but we believe we can do it.
“Over the last two seasons in Europe, we’ve been developing. We’ve been playing different formations and styles against top-quality teams.
“For us now we just want to push on as much as we can. We have a fantastic manager, great coaches and top-quality players. We’re thriving on the experience of playing in the Champions League and last 32 of the Europa League.”
The captain isn’t prepared to give up the underdogs tag that was quite correctly given to Celtic before the tie commenced last week. Big spending Zenit were heavily fancied to roll Celtic over home and away, so the pressure is on them tomorrow as Celtic have a goal and a clean sheet to defend. That failure to grab an away goal often proves decisive and the Russians are well aware of the threat Celtic pose offensively after last week.
Moussa Dembele bossed them.
“We’re still the underdogs and coming away from home is always hard but you have to believe in yourself,” Broony said.
“Yet again we’re facing another top quality club. You never know what can happen in football, it’ll be a long 90-minutes and we’ll need to be very disciplined and make sure we take our chances.
“If it opens up it will hopefully suit us. As I said, they’re a fantastic team, but we’ve come over here and we’re going to play football the way we like to play football.
“The pitch and the stadium are going to be fantastic and we’re looking forward to that. We have to believe in ourselves as well.
“We understand Zenit are a fantastic team and they showed in the first leg what they can do to us, so we need to make sure we’re strong as a team.
“Their whole team played very well. They were very disciplined in their shape, they defended well and they have great pace on the counter attack. It was difficult but yet again we upped our game and we played well in the game. Here’s hoping we can do that again tomorrow night.”
Podcast Preview and Review. Yeah, some spoken word about the game below and also an interview with Megan from the Celtic Fc Foundation.
Listen below or via Itunes, ACast or MP3
Also on The Celtic Star today…
‘“c’mon the Chocolate McClair,” although I do like to call myself Chocciñho sometimes,’ laughs Brian McClair..read HERE.
Five Talking Points as excitement builds for Zenit v Celtic…read HERE.
As we walked past the referee’s room the Celtic manager said, “we call that the masons’ room,” Paul Lyons is our fan of the week…read HERE
And…In praise of Scott Brown, Celtic’s omnipresent anchorman – read HERE
Plus – ‘Difficult for Zenit to play against a big and strong striker like Moussa,’ Ntcham…read HERE
And – ‘On this day in 1925 our visitors to play in the Scottish Cup, was Solway Star,’ Jim Craig..read HERE
And there’s much more to come! Make The Celtic Star your daily destination for the best Celtic news and features.
