We’re facing two of the world’s biggest teams but we’re not in this to finish in third spot .. a club this size doesn’t do that
Hoops No.2 Davies says they can silence big guns
CHRIS DAVIES will tell his Celtic stars to believe they can shock £200million man Neymar and progress from their glamour Champions League group.
The Parkhead assistant boss knows yesterday’s mouth-watering draw – which grouped the Hoops with megabucks Paris St Germain, German giants Bayern Munich and Anderlecht – will be seen by most as a battle for third place at best.
Such is the huge gulf in resources between the Scots and Belgians compared to Bundesliga giants Bayern and the French club, who have just shelled out a world transfer recordsmashing sum on Neymar.
But Davies believes Celtic’s players have the right to believe they can stun the superstars having learned from the experience of facing the Brazilian dangerman when he was at Barcelona during last season’s Euro campaign.
And despite serious questions being raised about Celtic’s defensive frailties during a 4-3 defeat away to Astana in their last qualifying clash, Davies insists the rearguard is better equipped than ever to handle the cream of Europe’s attacking talent.
Davies said: “I think that’s what people will immediately look to, a battle with Anderlecht for third.
“But from our perspective it certainly won’t be the message that we’re giving to the players from the manager. That’s just not the way we work, that we’re resigning ourselves to third place.
“A club of this size doesn’t do that. You have to look at each game and give it everything and see what happens.
“We will be playing probably two of the biggest and best clubs in world football in our group. But having said that the record we have at Celtic Park is something that works in our favour.
“Of course a massive gap has opened up in Europe, more than ever, between some of these elite teams and the rest.
“You have to be mindful of that. The money they are spending on one player alone is incredible. But it’s not as if we have players who haven’t played at this level before. We’ve got some excellent players ourselves with Champions League and international experience.
“Neymar has gone to PSG for that enormous transfer fee but he is someone our players have played against so that’s a good reference for them in terms of their level. That will give them confidence.
“Brendan Rodgers is a realistic, pragmatic manager. But he gives players belief and confidence. He has confidence in the way we play and what we can produce. It is an exciting challenge, not one which scares us.
“We are playing against teams who are favourites to beat us. We are the underdogs against the likes of PSG and Bayern. It’s not something that is new to Celtic, going into these kind of games against really good teams. We are going to embrace it and look forward to it. We are going to control what we can in terms of planning for the games tactically.
“It’s an exciting challenge. The players can look forward to going out and showing the same personality they did away to Monchengladbach, Manchester City and Rosenborg – references where in good European venues we played well.”
They’ll need to have learned those lessons and then some to shackle the likes of Neymar and Bayern dangermen Arjen Robben and Robert Lewandowski.
But despite that nervy night in Astana – and contrary to the comments of ex-Celtic defender Alan Stubbs this week claiming the only top-class defender they have in the squad is young full-back Kieran Tierney – Davies insists their defence has never been in better shape.
He added: “The way the team has developed has been encouraging. We conceded four goals in the game against Astana that week but leading up to that game we had only conceded one goal in 10 games.
“The point I am trying to make is that we are a better team defensively now than what we were this time last year. We conceded seven goals in the qualifying campaign last year and four this year.
“Away at Rosenborg it was a fantastic defensive performance so we are evolving and improving as time goes by. We will look forward to it.”
Patrick Roberts has yet to conclude his long-awaited return to Celtic Park as negotiations continue to secure the winger on another loan spell from Manchester City. However, it is still expected he will enhance the Hoops squad for the campaign ahead.
But even without Roberts, Davies believes Celtic have more and better than Ander l echt ’ s dangerman, Henr y Onyekuru, who he admits to having considered as a signing target this summer.
He added: “I have seen him play a few times. He is a talent. He has good pace and technical ability and got some goals towards the second half of last season.
“He is someone we had monitored over an extended period but it was never that close. He will be a threat but we have equal and better threats.
“There’s nothing more I can add on the situation with Patrick. He experienced this club and the Champions League – as well as being here when the club weren’t in the Champions League. He knows all about Celtic but I don’t know where that’s at.
“It’s about focusing on the players we do have who have worked so hard to get us here. Look at James Forrest – he deserves a mention as someone who has played out of position up front and done really well. We’ll focus on those guys.”
It is an exciting challenge, certainly not one which scares us CHRIS DAVIES