BRING ON NEYMAR
Celtic hero Ntcham wants showdown with world’s most expensive player
CeLTiC’S Olivier ntcham has set his sights on a glamorous Champions League homecoming against neymar’s Paris Saint-Germain.
The £4.5million signing from Manchester City was Celtic’s stand-out performer as the Premiership champions survived a test of nerve in astana to secure their place in this evening’s group-stage draw.
Qualification guarantees a £26.4m windfall for the Parkhead club — with the total certain to top £30m after gate receipts and UeFa bonus cash for points won.
The Parkhead side will land either Real Madrid, Juventus, Chelsea, Bayern Munich, Monaco, Benfica, Shakhtar Donetsk or Spartak Moscow from Pot One.
French midfielder ntcham, however, is already eyeing Pot Two where Barcelona, both Manchester clubs and his
Qatari-backed hometown club Paris Saint-Germain — with £198m superstar Neymar in their ranks — are amongst the mouthwatering opponents lying in wait. ‘I am from Paris, so obviously it would be special if we were drawn against PSG,’ said Ntcham. ‘They are a huge team and they have some very famous players. ‘It would be a special tie to play against them, not just for me personally. ‘It doesn’t matter who we get. They are all big teams and great matches. ‘I don’t like to look too far ahead but we want to do well in the Champions League.’ Manager Brendan Rodgers heaved a sigh of relief after coming through a torrid 25 minutes in Kazakhstan, swiftly training his targets on European football after Christmas. Following a raft of injuries in attack and central defence, Rodgers will complete deals for winger Patrick Roberts and South African central defender Rivaldo Coetzee. Marseille have declared a public interest in £30m-rated Moussa Dembele, but the Celtic manager is also in the market for a striker to beef up his squad ahead of the group stage. Ntcham remains the club’s biggest outlay of the summer, justifying a fee of almost £5m with a nerve-steadying strike ten minutes from time in Astana. ‘I was delighted to score such an important goal for the team,’ he continued. ‘It was a big moment as it was a tough game. The most important thing was that we got the result we wanted and reached the Champions League. ‘We can learn from matches like Astana. There were times when we were under pressure, but we managed to hold on and then we scored a couple of goals. ‘We showed we have dangerous players who can score goals against any team.’ Responding to claims from Rodgers that he wouldn’t look out of place in Barcelona’s midfield, Ntcham said: ‘It is always nice when the manager says these things. ‘I know he said I wouldn’t look out of place with Bayern Munich or Barcelona but I am only thinking about my team — Celtic. ‘It would be good to play against teams like Bayern and Barcelona in the group stage.’