Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
LINFIELD v CELTIC HAPPY EVER LAFFTER
Kyle hopes for fairytale Blues win
NORTHERN Ireland star and lifelong Linfield fan Kyle Lafferty is hoping the Blues pull off a fairytale win over Celtic at Windsor Park on Friday night.
And the Hearts striker wants to make it a double next month by helping his new club end the invincibility of Brendan Rodgers’ men in Scotland when the sides meet at Parkhead in the opening league game of the season.
Lafferty loved being back at Windsor on Saturday as his new side defeated Linfield 4-1 in a friendly.
Next up in Belfast for David Healy’s men is Celtic in the first leg of the second qualifying round Champions League tie in Europe’s elite competition.
Lafferty acknowledges how difficult it will be for the Blues but believes the raucous atmosphere created by the home fans in a stadium he knows well will be a real test for the Bhoys.
“Celtic did the treble last season and went through the whole campaign unbeaten so it is going to be a tough game for Linfield,” said Lafferty, who supported the Irish League champions when he was growing up in Fermanagh.
“But Linfield did the treble as well and they have some good players in their team. Also Windsor Park will be a tough place for Celtic to come to. I am not going to say who I’d like to win but I think most people will know!” Lafferty is loving life at Hearts having opted to sign for the Jam Tarts ahead of Edinburgh rivals Hibs and Ipswich Town.
And the ex-rangers ace (inset) can’t wait for his first Scottish Premiership game away to Celtic on August 5.
He added: “I am going to thrive on that kind of game. Playing against the champions on the flag day, you don’t get much bigger games than that. Celtic will be up for it but we want to be the first team to hopefully beat them.
“Can we? I think we can. We are still trying to get to know each other but come August 5 we will be bang at it. We will give them a tough game and it will be exciting.”
Last week Hibs boss Neil Lennon claimed that Lafferty had given him his word that he would go and speak to him before signing for anyone else.
The Northern Ireland frontman admitted Lennon had a point but added he would have felt disrespectful to Hearts after negotiating with them for several days.
Lafferty said: “I came back from my holidays on the Thursday and Hearts wanted to meet me on the Friday. They moved things around to get me in the door early to speak to them and I had to show respect and listen to them.
“I saw what Neil Lennon said. I did say that I would speak to him. Did I go back on my word? Then obviously I did.”