I refuse to think about us losing to anderlecht. that would ruin Xmas .. in fact it would ruin everything
THE GRINCH may have stolen Christmas but Dedryck Boyata refuses to contemplate the thought of Anderlecht plundering his festive wellbeing.
A three-goal home loss in the Champions League tomorrow, which would deny Celtic a place in the Europa League last 32 in February, is unthinkable to the Belgian defender.
The draw will be held in Nyon a week today and Boyata is determined to make it at the expense of the Belgian champs, the team he followed as a kid in Brussels.
The 28-year-old is buoyed by the confidence his side took from their 3-0 success away to Anderlecht – who beat Lokeren 2-1 on Saturday – in late September.
It prompted the Belgian board to act after their worst start to a season since 1998, a far cry from the previous campaign when they won their 34th title and made the Europa League last eight under Rene Weiler. He had already been replaced early in the new season and Nicolas Frutos was put in temporary charge but Celtic ended his hope of winning the job full-time.
New manager Hein Vanhaezebrouck, lured from Gent, has steadied the ship and they were unlucky to lose 2-1 to Bayern Munich in their last group game as Celtic were thumped 7-1 at PSG.
The Parkhead punters have the potential to get antsy but Boyata has vowed they will see the job through.
He said: “Journalists in Belgium have been contacting me to have a word about this game because it’s a shootout.
“It’s an important game for both clubs and they definitely haven’t given up on it. They’ve said if we can win 3-0 there they can do the same here.
“Under their new manager they’ve been doing better than when we first played them.
“It will be a difficult game but I refuse to think about us losing to them. That would ruin Christmas – in fact it would ruin everything.
“Anderlecht are like Celtic back home but they had a bad start to the season and found themselves under pressure.
“They’re third in the league now but it’s always hard to play when you are under pressure and the expectations from their fans are really high.
“They are a big club though so they should be used to that. We are a big club too, we’re unbeaten domestically for 67 games and we’ve worked hard for that because it’s not easy to keep it up every week.
“Anderlecht have had lots of criticism but they’ll have found their feet when we play them.”
Boyata admits Celtic have been smarting from the demolition in Paris following a five-goal home drubbing by the French in the group opener.
He added: “You learn from these mistakes against very good players. But you don’t sleep well after a loss like that.
“It’s vital we bounce back in this tie. The manager has sent staff to watch Anderlecht so we’ll know what we have to do.
“It could help us that they need to attack. We don’t get much of that in Scotland. It could be very open as they have to win and score goals.”
Boyata was handed a mark of one out of 10 by leading French newspaper L’Equipe for his performance in Paris. However, the thoughts of those outside Celtic matter little to the former Man City kid.
He added: “The media have followed me ever since I left to join Man City. The coverage is positive just now but I don’t follow it. When I used social media I saw a lot of stuff and decided that wasn’t my kind of world. So I left it years ago.
“It affected me at the time because it can be personal.”
Anderlecht say if we can win 3-0 over there then they can do the same here DEDRYCK BOYATA