I helped to shackle Messi so I’m sure I can handle Harry
CHARLIE MULGREW isn’t running scared of England’s red-hot hitman Harry Kane.
That’s because nothing fazes him after squaring up to Lionel Messi and coming out on the winning side.
Mulgrew is in line to start in central defence tomorrow and his top priority is shackling the Tottenham hitman who has just been crowned the English Premier League’s top scorer for the second season in a row.
Kane’s haul of 29 league goals and 35 in all competitions underlines his credentials as one of the most fearsome strikers in European football.
But Mulgrew has found himself in the sights of an even deadlier hitman before when Messi and his obscenely talented Barcelona team-mates came to Celtic Park one November night in 2012.
He and his Celtic colleagues played the game of their lives to topple the greatest team of a generation 2-1 on an evening that proved anything is possible in football.
That’s a memory Mulgrew has revisited this week as he and the rest of the Scotland squad strive to summon another careerdefining performance to deliver England a defeat that would be cherished through the ages.
He said: “That Barcelona game tells you anything is possible in football, the underdogs always have a chance.
“Every player goes into every game believing they can get something. That night there must have been belief among us to get something or else we wouldn’t have achieved it.
“The manager Neil Lennon was good at giving us that wee bit of hope and highlighting the areas where we could score goals and be effective.
“The manager here is just as good at preparing us for matches and having that bit of belief.
“That night against Barcelona was huge. Nobody gave us a chance but we pulled off a victory. I really hope we can do the same on Saturday.”
Not meekly bowing to the big-time reputations of their superstar names is crucial to keeping that sense of belief required to cause an upset. But Mulgrew admits it would be naive to completely discount their star status and try to treat the likes of Kane as they would any other player.
After all, big-name players earn their status for a reason.
Mulgrew said: “I don’t know if it’s about reputations becoming irrelevant. They are always in your head because of how good they are.
“It maybe sharpens you up a bit, sharpens your senses to realise how good these players are and all of a sudden you need to stop them. They are difficult nights – trust me when I say they’re not easy.
“But we will all be giving everything we can to get something from the game. I suppose a good way to look at it is by looking more at what we have, that we too have players who are very capable.
“We have a lot of belief in there, we know we have the quality there. The last few days in training, some of the boys have been unbelievable.
“We’ve just got to believe in ourselves, get on the ball and feel we can cause them problems too.
“It’s a collective effort. We can’t obsess about stopping just one player. You stop Kane but then who else is there?
“There’s Raheem Sterling, there are so many of them. You can’t just pick out one to stop. You stop one then someone else will step up like a Jermain Defoe.
“It’s a team full of world-class players so we have to be prepared and ready for it. We know all their possibilities, what they can do and what they can’t do. We need to turn up on the night and deliver.
“If we can it would be right up there with the best moments of my career.
“I love playing for Scotland no matter who it’s against but to play against England would be
That Barcelona game tells you anything is possible, the underdogs