Griffiths aims to make the most of his final chance
It’s unfortunate that Moussa got injured. But I have to step up and be the main man again
MARKING his first 90 minutes for Celtic since December with the second goal against Rangers, opportunity now beckons for Leigh Griffiths.
Moussa Dembele’s hamstring ailment offers a chance to end a season of frustration with starts against Aberdeen in the Scottish Cup final and England in a World Cup qualifier.
Like all the best strikers, Griffiths has timed his run well.
‘From my personal point of view, I have five cup finals,’ said the striker following the launch of Celtic’s new Lisbon Lions tribute kit yesterday.
‘Last week I scored a good goal, played well and was involved in a lot of decent things.
‘But the main objective is to get minutes, play as well as I can and get into the cup final team.
‘Then I’ve got another big game for Scotland in June and I want to be firing on all cylinders.’
Twice before, the former Hibs forward has suffered defeat in the Scottish Cup final. Dembele’s reluctance to risk his injury, with Champions League qualifiers on the horizon, offers a chance to strike lucky at the third attempt.
Gordon Strachan will certainly not be shedding tears at the Frenchman’s ill-timed misfortune.
The Scotland manager needs his strikers to play games before facing England. For Griffiths — like others in the national team — that hasn’t always been the case this season.
‘It’s unfortunate that Moussa got injured, but it happened to me earlier in the season and he stepped up to play,’ said Griffiths. ‘It’s never nice — or easy — being injured.
‘But since I’ve come back, I’ve proved my fitness and Moussa being injured now gives me a chance. Rangers was my first 90 minutes since December.
‘The manager wanted me to come back and not break down. I had problems with my calves and I rushed back. Had I taken another few weeks (off), then I’d have been fine.’
Fitness was only half the story. Brendan Rodgers issued a pointed warning to the striker in January, telling him to live his life like a professional or risk squandering his talent.
Griffiths took the warning as a ‘kick up the backside’, but insisted: ‘It wasn’t heated — the gaffer thinks highly of me and knows what I can do but I can’t help him from the treatment table.
‘If Moussa gets injured, then I’m the next striker he needs to turn to.
‘I got injured in training, but the gaffer knows what I can do. He sees it from me every day in training.
‘I need to step up and be the main man again.’
It might not be enough. So long as Dembele remains at Celtic — a how-long-is-a-piece-of-string conundrum — Griffiths accepts he will play second best.
Rodgers has flirted with playing the two together in training but shows no sign of doing it in big games.
When Griffiths was lifting Player of the Year awards last season, it seemed inconceivable he would spend most of this season on the bench. A finale to the season featuring Aberdeen and England, then, is a chance to cut loose and reinforce his reputation as a big-game finisher.
‘I don’t want to be thrown into a big game and bottle it,’ he said. ‘You want to go in and prove you are worthy of being there, whether that’s here or somewhere else.
‘If there is a big game, go and show yourself. I proved that on Saturday when there was a massive crowd and pressure to go and beat Rangers comfortably.
‘We did that and I showed I am still here. I can still score goals. ‘Working with Brendan and (assistant manager) Chris Davies, I think the training they put on does improve you. When I go away with Scotland, the manager sees that and that’s why I get picked.’
By common consent, Celtic are a better team when Dembele plays. Yet Griffiths is only human. A domestic Treble is on the line but there has to be a part of the striker hoping the Frenchman’s recovery stretches into June.
‘As a player you need be selfish, you need to have that about you,’ he added. ‘You want to play as much as you can and you want to score as many goals as you can.
‘But, collectively, if the team can go and win the Treble this year, then go the rest of the season unbeaten it would be talked about for a long, long time. ‘You want to be a part of that.’ The Scottish Cup final falls on May 27. Thereafter comes an awkward two-week hiatus until the visit of England to Glasgow on June 10. Celtic’s Scotland posse will grab two weeks of rest before making their preparations for Champions League qualifiers in mid-July. Griffiths admits he’s fine with that.
‘You will need to ask the gaffer how long we get off and when we are back in,’ he said. ‘If it’s the 22nd, 12 days is enough for a holiday and to keep yourself ticking over.
‘Coming back, I’m sure the gaffer will take into consideration the fact we’ve not had that long off.
‘Training will be worked around us, but the Champions League qualifiers make or break our season and the gaffer will want everybody fit and raring to go.’