by Joe McHugh Former Celtic skipper Tom Boyd is looking forward to seeing the hoops put Arsenal out of the Champions League.
The build up towards Tuesday’s clash was upped a notch or three, or six, by the weekend results with both side’s turning on the style to win convincingly away from home.
The talking that matters will be carried out on the pitch with Boyd confident that Celtic can turn on the style to book a place in the group stages of the Champions League.
MOSCOW
He said: “I’m confident about the match, the way that the boys played against Aberdeen and in the second leg against Moscow Dynamo will have given everyone confidence.
“I know that Arsenal went on to beat Everton 6-1 but I think that Celtic at Celtic Park in the Champions League is very different.
“That win could be a good thing for Celtic. Arsenal got it easy with Everton being so poor, hopefully they will underestimate Celtic coming off a very good performance like that. I’m sure that they will come up here confident of doing something in the first match.
“We have a proud record in Europe at Celtic Park. Tony Mowbray has got the team playing in a different style, a far more open, inventive and creative style and the players will be looking forward to the challenge of facing Arsenal.”
MCGEADY
Mowbray’s side is starting to have a settled look about it with a heavy emphasis on speed from the wide areas through Shaun Maloney and Aiden McGeady.
Scott McDonald and Georgios Samaras got the goals in Moscow to take Celtic into the final Champions League qualifier but new signing Marc-Antoine Fortune has still to find the net… after three competitive games!
Fortune’s contribution to the team can’t be doubted but equally strikers are there to score goals and it’s not unreasonable to expect a Celtic striker to find the net 20 times a season given the domination and possession that they enjoy in most games.
Not every striker has suddenly found the net as soon as they pull on a Celtic jersey with Boyd recalling one famous Celt who took his time before getting amongst the goals.
HARTSON
The former Celtic defender added: “The legend that is John Hartson took a long time to get his first Celtic goal, I think that he finally scored with a hat-trick against Dundee United.
“John went on to score over a hundred goals for Celtic and I’m looking forward to Marco getting his first goal.
“It’s not a concern at the moment although I’d love him to get a goal to lift the monkey from his back, the longer it goes on the more that the press will make of it.
“The way that he plays helps the team, he’s a key figure within the way that Tony wants the team to play.”
Tom Boyd audio interview part 2 to follow Tuesday afternoon
Great as usual Joe.