SIXTY TWO hours after the five agonising minutes of stoppage time came to an end at Paradise against Lazio, Celtic will walk out at Pittodrie to play Aberdeen in the Scottish Premiership’s Match of the Day.
Scott Brown will not entertain any notion that the thrills of the Europa League can be used as some sort of excuse for the side underperforming in the next league match. For the Celtic captain winning against Derek McInnes’ side is the ONLY option.
“There are no excuses, we just need to go there and do it,” Broony said to the Media, as reported by Scottish Sun.
“It’s true that we couldn’t face a much longer trip off the back of a European night, but we’re used to the Thursday-Sunday thing now.
“We had a day off on Friday to let us rest and recover so we’re fresh and ready for Pittodrie — because as much as it’s a cliche, the truth is that you’re only as good as your next game.
“The league’s huge for us, it’s our bread and butter and we need to be dominating it. The only way to do that is to maintain our form, keep creating chances and keep scoring goals. To do that you need to be really fit and I think Thursday night showed where we are in that respect. The way this team plays is about the pressing and energy of the lads, all over the pitch.
“We kept that going right from the off against Lazio, right down to the 94th minute and no one can deny we looked the fitter team. I’ll be honest, there haven’t been a lot of times down the years when we could have said that against such top-quality opposition.
“But on Thursday night we could have played an extra ten minutes and not flagged. The lads have got that belief in themselves.
“Thursday night was amazing, a brilliant win and the fans were incredible. Lazio are a great team. The way they play football, it was a delight to even try and get anywhere near them and stop them, never mind end up beating them.
“But we limited them to not too many chances and we showed our qualities the longer the game went on.
“You look right through the team. We have the big man Christopher Jullien at the back, who defends so well then comes up and scores a header. Then we’ve got Fraser Forster pulling off unbelievable saves — like that one at the end when the boy caught it sweet and he flew to keep it out!
“I don’t think anyone’s seen a save like that for a long time, though the one with his legs from Parolo was terrific as well. But then you think that we’ve got three goalies all going for that No 1 spot and you realise not just how lucky we are but how hard Fraser’s having to work for it.
“It’s the same right through the squad, so if there’s a need for freshness I’m sure the gaffer will be thinking about it.
“But whoever plays needs to go out there and get three points, because that’s as big for us as beating Lazio.
“Aberdeen haven’t had a great start to the season, but they go into this one off the back of a really good result away to Motherwell.
“They changed a few things, they had the left-back playing centre-mid and the centre-half at centre-mid as well and they looked more structured, so it’s going to be hard up there, like it always is.
“They turn it into a battle, but they also try to get the ball down. It’ll be everything you expect when you go to any away ground. Saturday or Sunday, lunchtime or three o’clock, that never changes.”
