Brown wary of Champions League draw
It’s four years since Celtic Park hosted Champions League football with Brown desperate to lead the club back into the big time.
Unlike previous seasons where the qualifying route has seen Celtic grouped with clubs from the top leagues Neil Lennon’s side enter today’s draw in the champions route.
The champions of Norway and Finland are amongst Celtic’s possible opponents with Brown well aware of the dangers that lurk between now and a return to the big time.
“There are no easy teams any more,” the midfielder admitted. “We could face teams who are halfway through their domestic season, while this will be our first competitive game.
“It’s up to us to get the season off to a flier. The teams we’re playing against just now in pre-season will show how we’re progressing as a unit.
“They’re going to have a lot of the ball while we’ll be doing a lot of defending. That gives us the chance to work on the formation and system we might play.”
Celtic had a taste of the best in Europe last season when they faced Rennes, Udinese and eventual winners Atletico Madrid in the Europa League with that experience helping to bring a turnaround in domestic form.
Brown added: “We have to take a lot of pride from the Europa League groups last year.
“The lads gave everything they possibly could and getting back into the competition seemed to kick-start our season. We got better with every game.
“We also went 15 points behind in the league, but still showed we had the character to come back from it.
“That group was the making of this squad. We had a lot of new faces but the lads have gelled well. There are no excuses now.”
Celtic’s Champions League opponents will come from FC Sheriff (Moldova), Molde FK (Norway), FK Ventspils (Latvia), HJK Helsinki (Finland) or Neftci PFK (Azerbijan)
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