LUSTIG OUT TO MAKE SWEDES FEEL SICK IN EUROPE ALL OVER AGAIN
MIKAEL LUSTIG admits he i s more likely to be stopped f or a selfie on the streets of Glasgow than Stockholm. Although he has earned more than 40 caps for Sweden and featured at Euro 2012, the Celtic defender is hardly Zlatan Ibrahimovic when it comes to a public profile in his homeland.
There is, however, one aspect in which his fellow Swedes have become heartily sick of the sight of him.
Every time Lustig faces one of their clubs in European competition, he delivers a knockout blow.
Four previous ties — two with Rosenborg, two with Celtic — have ended with four victories for Lustig.
It is a blemish- free record he is determined to maintain against the latest group of compatriots in his sights, as Malmo visit Parkhead this evening for the first leg of a pressure-laden Champions League play-off.
‘Back home, they are used to me facing Swedish teams,’ admitted Lustig. ‘I’ve done it twice with Rosenborg and now this is a third time with Celtic.
‘At Rosenborg we beat AIK in the Champions League and then Djurgardens in the Europa League. Of course we have also beaten Helsingborgs and Elfsborg in qualifiers here over the past few seasons.
‘It’s been so far, so good and hopefully we’ll get the same result this time. It’s always special when you go abroad to play a team from your own country.
‘Is this the hardest game yet? To go to Elfsborg on the astroturf was tough. They were one of the strongest teams in Sweden as well. Malmo is up there with them, so it will be a difficult game.
‘They reached the Champions League last year, so in terms of being one of the strongest teams in Scandinavia, why not?’
Attempting to oust Malmo will place Lustig back in the spotlight in his home country. Unlike many of his colleagues in the national side, he does not have much of a back story in terms of Swedish club football. Having yo-yoed between the top two divisions with GIF Sundsvall, he was spirited across the border to Rosenborg when he was just into his 20s.
‘I get recognised when I go home but nothing mental,’ he said. ‘If I go to Stockholm, then I am more surprised to get recognised than if I am here in Glasgow.
‘I went to Rosenborg when I was 20 and really only had half a season in the first division in Sweden.
‘It’s always been a really tight league back home. Malmo have won two in a row and that has not happened for more than 10 years.
‘I am from the north of Sweden, so I never had a Swedish team as such when I was growing up. I didn’t hate Malmo or anything like that!’
Malmo’s re c e nt re t urn to prominence has been guided by veteran Norwegian coach Age Hareide, who never seems short of a word in front of a microphone.
Having previously declared his team to be better than Celtic, the 61-year- old backtracked a little recently — before then stating that Malmo had already defeated a superior opponent in Red Bull Salzburg.
Hareide has also claimed he is out for ‘revenge’, having been in charge of the Helsingborgs team which Celtic confidently dealt with at the play-off stage three years ago.
Lustig crossed paths with Hareide during his time at Rosenborg and admits being fond of his style.
Indeed, he detects a trace of a certain Chelsea autocrat in the way Hareide uses the media.
‘ I know him quite well,’ said Lustig. ‘I like him as a personality. You can see it in Mourinho, as well. Sometimes he wants to speak to his players through what he says in the media. He wants to make sure his players are confident.
‘That is part of the game. He wants to show respect to Celtic, but I think his aim i s also to show his players they should not be afraid.
‘Some coaches and managers are like that. They want to make sure their players have confidence and say that the team they are going to face are not that good et cetera. It’s part of the game and it’s his way to be a manager.
‘The last time we got a good result against him was when he was at Helsingborgs. But this is a new opponent and we also have a new team.
‘They are going to be two tough games against Malmo, but we are l ooking f orward to trying to get through.
‘In the past two years, they have lost away to Salzburg but took them at home. They did well in the last round (winning the second leg 3-0).
‘We want a good result to take there, so that we won’t be heading to Malmo with the pressure of having to win the game.’
Lustig’s personal history makes him all the more determined to grasp the prize of a place in the group stage. Recent campaigns have been dogged by i njuries, with the 28-year-old still having to nurse foot issues that ended last season in February.
‘Of course, the European nights are always special,’ he insisted. ‘I’ve missed some big games because of injury. Just now, there are a little bit of nerves but I think that’s a good thing. Once you have been
involved in these games, you want to be there again and again.
‘I’m still being careful in terms of my fitness. I played two games in midweek and then the weekend when I played against Partick Thistle after the Qarabag match. But then I took a week’s break.
‘Hopefully, it is getting better and better. Maybe in a couple of months, I should be able to play all the games.
‘There is still some pain after the games because my foot is still swollen. If you get a knock on it or something, then it can swell up even more. As I said, I have to be careful, but so far so good.’