We're tough to crack now that I’ve got my Boy back
JOZO SIMUNOVIC isn’t running scared of Bayern Munich now his best buddy is back to partner him in the centre of defence.
The Bosnian defender teamed up with Dedryck Boyata to help claim Celtic’s first clean sheet on the road in the group stage of the Champions League.
It was only the third time they have joined forces this season after the Belgian suffered a knee ligament injury in a pre-season friendly against Slavia Prague.
Boyata returned to top team action in last week’s 4-0 Betfred Cup win against Dundee and he and Simunovic have yet to concede in their appearances together this term.
Simunovic recently signed a new four-year deal at Parkhead and admits he has found stability again after players such as Nir Bitton and Mikael Lustig stepped back and to the side to cover in Boyata’s absence.
The 23-year-old said: “It’s very important to have Dedryck back because he is a central defender.
“Until the last game I played with midfielders and full-backs so it means a lot for the whole team to have Dedryck available.
“Last season we played many games together.
“He has missed three months because of his injury but we’ve showed we can still play together.
“Now it’s on to Bayern Munich. We respect every team but we don’t need to be afraid.
“We just need to keep going with our game and perform as we did against Anderlecht. If we play like that results will come.”
Simunovic, who recently committed his international future to Bosnia and Herzegovina, confessed the 5-0 loss to PSG in the first game of Group B was a bruising experience.
But the ease with which the French side swatted aside Bayern, winning 3-0 in Paris, suggests it is not a one off and they will romp into the last 32.
Simunovic added: “We showed against Anderlecht we’ve learned a lot of things after PSG. When you concede five goals you have to learn something. If you don’t then in the next game you will also lose.
“It was important to prove to ourselves after a bad game that we can win again. We picked up three points and played well.”
Stand-in centre-half Bitton, who replaced Scott Brown late on in Brussels, also revealed he is happy to see the return of Boyata to bolster the Hoops rearguard.
The Israeli midfielder said: “We knew before that Dedryck and Jozo have a good relationship. It is important you have two strong centre-backs.”