“We spoke about it on Thursday night,” David Turnbull’s Dressing Room reveal

David Turnbull will be looking to reach double figures in his own personal goals tally for the season this afternoon when he goes up against his old buddies from Motherwell in the Cinch Premiership. And if Celtic are awarded a penalty – we got three in six Europa League matches but they’re much rarer for Celtic in domestic football for some strange reason – we now look to have discovered the ideal player for that particular task.

His winner on Thursday night against Real Betis was assured,  sent the keeper the wrong way and found the bottom corner with a well stuck and perfectly placed spot kick. So if we get one against Motherwell you’d imagine Ange will have told Turnbull he is taking it.

“I want to try and score as many goals as I can from midfield,” Turnbull told the media, as reported by David Friel in Scottish Sun,  ahead of today’s game.  That’s what I’ve been doing and I enjoy scoring them, so hopefully there are many more to come.”

Turnbull’s winner against Betis had no real significance as far as Celtic’s Europa League fate was concerned. That had been sealed a few weeks back with the two late goals conceded in the closing stages in Leverkusen which turned a lead into a loss. But it’s far from the end of Celtic’s rollercoaster of a European journey in Ange Postecoglou debut season as the Celtic manager. After the Champions League and the Europa League comes the Europa Conference League and Turnbull sees no reason why Celtic should not be looking to win it.

(Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

“Why not? Every game we treat the same. Once we get the draw and find out who we get, it will be about beating them first,” he said. “We will try and get ourselves on a run and I’m sure we will be all focused on it.  We will try to do our best and get as far as we can.

“I’m looking forward to it. We can’t focus on winning trophies in competitions which haven’t started yet. It’s still at the knockout stages so we will focus on one game at a time.”

“It’s a new tournament which has just been brought in this season. Big teams which don’t do their best or qualify for the latter stages of the Europa League drop into it, so every team in it will be of high quality.

“You never get an easy game in Europe so I’m sure it will be a good experience,” the midfielder added.

Diego Lainez holds off Osaze Urhoghide of Celtic during the match between Celtic FC and Real Betis. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Turnbull had actually started every game for Celtic this season, indeed he was the only player still in that position until Thursday night when his run ended with a place on the bench as Ange opted to play mostly his fringe players, all of whom put on a show in what was an absorbing and entertaining game of football played in the right spirit by two teams who wanted to win.

Yet it came at a cost with two more injuries to add to the queue at the Lennoxtown treatment table. Ajeti looks like being longer term but the news is that Kyogo’s isn’t as bad as first thought and he could even be involved against Motherwell or perhaps will be kept for the League Cup Final next weekend against Hibs. Turnbull outlined his own thoughts on Celtic’s mounting injury problems. Yet the midfielder reckons that the rings players showed that they are ready to provide support to the core group of Celtic players and step in as and when required.

“Having so many games takes its toll on your body,” he said. “It’s obvious we don’t want injuries, but we spoke about it on Thursday night. It’s about boys stepping in to these positions. They can do just as well and work hard for the team. I don’t think we need to worry.

“We had a batch of boys coming in and they all played brilliantly. They showed everyone what they can do. Everyone knows the schedule we have is quite busy as we go into the Christmas period. I’m sure we will need everybody, whenever that will be, if somebody gets injured or late in games and we need something to change.

“I am sure all of the boys will be ready.”

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About Author

The Celtic Star founder and editor, who has edited numerous Celtic books over the past decade or so including several from Lisbon Lions, Willie Wallace, Tommy Gemmell and Jim Craig. Earliest Celtic memories include a win over East Fife at Celtic Park and the 4-1 League Cup loss to Partick Thistle as a 6 year old. Best game? Easy 4-2, 1979 when Ten Men Won the League. Email editor@thecelticstar.co.uk

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