MAMMANA WARNS OF INTIMIDATING CROWD

ZENIT St Petersburg defender Emanuel Mammana has warned Celtic they face j ust as intimidating an atmosphere in Russia as their own fans produced in the first leg of their Europa League tie.

The Argentine admitted he and his t eam-mates were affected by the Parkhead atmosphere as they fell to a 1-0 defeat last week t hanks t o Callum McGregor’s second-half strike.

But the centre-back claims Zenit will overturn their deficit with no problems tomorrow.

The St Petersburg Stadium is heading for a 56,000 sell-out f or t he Russian side’s first match of the year following their winter break.

Mammana said: “We made a lot of mistakes at C e l t i c Pa r k , w e h av e carefully analysed what went wrong and watched the video.

“We ’v e s t u d i e d a l l aspects of their game to understand why it didn’t work out as we planned and to make the most of the 90 minutes we have at St Petersburg Stadium. It’s only half-time in the battle and the result is still unclear.

“We made quite a lot of mistakes during the match. Some very simple ones.

“There were a number of reasons for this, it being the first match after the break, the pressure from their crowd.

“We must always win at home. We are absolutely focused and I hope the fans will help us with this, too. I’m sure Celtic will feel the atmosphere in our stadium.”