Matt O’Riley’s first game in November 2021 was an FA Cup tie where MK Dons welcomed Stevenage in the FA Cup with the match ending in a 2-2 draw. Stevenage would end up winning the replay ten days later, which would have been pretty embarrassing for O’Riley and his MK Dons teammates.
Roll on a year and Matt O’Riley is adjusting the mic in the media room at the Santiago Bernabéu as the Celtic player put up to speak to the press ahead of the Scottish Champions taking on Real Madrid, the Champions of Europe in the Champions League.
And for O’Riley, who is barring any last minute mishap, certain to start tonight’s match allows him one final opportunity to showcase his talent and maybe convince Denmark’s manager Kasper Hjulmand to select his stand-out player from his Under 21s for the squad going to the World Cup in Qatar.
“When I sit down and reflect on where I am and where I was eight or nine months ago, a lot of things have happened to me, good things obviously, and being here is surreal in a sense but at the same time I feel it’s a good opportunity for me to show what I can do at this level,” O’Riley said.
“We know a club like this has so many good players so regardless of who’s starting for them or who’s playing, they will still have strength. So whoever is on the pitch we will be prepared to face. They have world-class players and I’m lucky enough to have been on the pitch with them already.
“Naturally, me being 21, I can learn a lot of players off players like that and being able to compete against them now I think is really cool.”
Watch Matt O’Riley’s Media Conference below…
“It’s exciting to be here, I got a look at the pitch and I’m really looking forward to it. It’s Real Madrid, but we want to show we do belong at this level and do our best to get a result and put on a performance.
“We were disappointed the other night to go out the way we did. For the majority of our games we’ve probably been the better team, we’ve got a lot of players who probably aren’t experienced at this level which might be the difference between closing out games at this level.” Matt O’Riley added.
“But we’re still feeling good, the leagues going well and we’ve still showcased ourselves in a good way which is a positive to take. It’s the same message in terms of how we play every week. In the first five group games we’ve imposed our football which is what the manager asks from us and we’ll try and do the same,” the Celtic midfielder added.
The Celtic Rising is out today! All pre-ordered copies will be personally signed by author David Potter this afternoon and the books will be despatched all over the world shortly afterwards. If you would like a signed copy sent out straight away please order below.
