GET THE BEERS IN
Broony hails Hoops despite Hapoel scare Skipper fears no one in group draw
SCOTT BROWN today insisted Celtic would “take on anyone” when the draw for the Champions League group stage is made on Thursday.
After a nervous display against Hapoel Be’er Sheva in Israel, the Scottish title holders are back to where they have always claimed they belonged – the group stage which will earn the club close to £30m.
Celtic toiled at the Turner
Stadium in a 2-0 defeat and there were times the fans must have felt it was going to end badly.
However, they dug in to get over the line and now the skipper can’t wait for the greatest names in football returning to Glasgow.
Brown said: “We’ll take anyone – but it will probably be Barcelona, AC Milan and Benfica! That is who we always get.
“Real Madrid? Well, we’ll just take who we get and with the fans behind us at Celtic Park, you never know what can happen.
“It will be hard away from home and tonight’s game showed us that. It gave us an idea of how tough it can be at a tricky away venue.
“We were pushed back and we found it hard to get out and we have to find a way to deal with that better. It was nervy but we are there and that’s what counts.”
Brown played his record 70th European game for Celtic, beating Billy McNeill’s long-standing record, and he has rarely played in a game in which so much counted.
The 31-year-old ran himself into the ground against Hapoel and admitted his team was hanging on at the end.
However, Celtic are in the Champions League and Brown was a relived man after as hard a 90 minutes as he’s played for the club.
Brown said: “That was nervy for me and I was playing in it!
“It was hard but we dug deep and the main thing is that this is back where we want it to be.
“We knew it was going to be hard – it was hot and the pitch wasn’t great but we got there.
“We hoped it would be 5-0 but it never quite works out that way does it? The pressure was huge and I was happy when the ref blew his whistle.”