Tierney has to embrace test, claims Hargreaves
OWEN Hargreaves will never forget his own coming-of-age as a Champions League player. It was a night that started with him wandering around in dreamland and ended with a football awakening.
The young Bayern Munich midfielder had just 15 minutes under his belt in the Champions League before being thrown into the deep end, starting against Real Madrid in a semi-final second leg in May 2001.
The prospect of going directly up against the world’s most expensive player at the time, Luis Figo, was daunting for the 20-year-old.
Even though Figo scored, Hargreaves announced his arrival in the upper echelons of the game with a fine performance as Munich won 2-1, and 3-1 on aggregate.
Confidence surged through his veins and, two weeks later, he was starring at the San Siro as the German giants were crowned champions of Europe with a penalty shoot-out victory over Valencia.
The same age as Hargreaves was when facing Figo in 2001, 20-year-old Kieran Tierney now has his own Munich date with destiny tonight when he marks Holland superstar Arjen Robben.
For Hargreaves (below), the challenge facing the Celtic defender is to use the Allianz Arena test to cement his growing reputation on the continent by ensuring Robben knows he has been in a game.
‘For a younger player, these are the matches that will take your reputation to a higher level on the European stage, 100 per cent,’ said Hargreaves. ‘You grow up watching these big players on the television and then, suddenly, you are out on the pitch playing against them.
‘When I look back to when I played against Luis Figo for the first time, he was the most expensive player in the world and I remember thinking: “I could be in trouble here” and “I hope he doesn’t destroy me”.
‘But then the game started and I nicked the ball off Figo and ran past Roberto Carlos. At that point, I had an awakening on the pitch, thinking: “These guys have only got two legs, just like me. Now I need to find a way to impose myself on them”.
‘So rather than Kieran Tierney be daunted by the prospect of facing Arjen Robben, he has to be excited and see it as a challenge. ‘Robben should be the one coming off the pitch saying: “Who the hell was that guy?”
‘Robben gives everyone the run-around but Tierney should be looking to impose himself on the match and take away what Robben does best.
‘I’m not sure how Robben is able to cut in on his left foot every time he gets the ball. It’s remarkable, really, but Tierney should be hoping to stop him doing that and make him go down the right.
‘Is Robben the same player he was at 27? No, but on his day he is still genuinely devastating.
‘Tierney should be using that opportunity to show he belongs on this stage. The really good players take these opportunities and the ones who don’t make it are the ones who don’t.’
Hargreaves, who also won the Champions League with Manchester United in 2008, believes Tierney is destined for the very top.
Citing the career path of Dele Alli, though, he believes the defender’s next home when he leaves Celtic Park should be a Goodison Park rather than an Old Trafford.
‘Tierney will play somewhere big,’ said the BT Sport pundit.
‘He’s one of those players who could easily play in one of the bigger Premier League teams. But I’m not sure leaving Celtic just to go to a big club is the answer for him. If you look at his Celtic team-mate, Patrick Roberts, he is a Manchester City player on paper — and that’s great — but he hasn’t played for them properly yet.
‘He’s had to go to Celtic on loan to get games. As young and as good as these guys are, it’s all about getting an opportunity to play. So Tierney might be better looking at Everton or somewhere like that.
‘Finding the right club is important. Look at Luke Shaw. Everyone said he really suited Manchester United when he moved there from Southampton in 2014 but he hasn’t really played.
‘Tierney is competing for titles and playing in the Champions League but maybe Celtic will look to sell him from a financial point of view some day.
‘But it needs to be the right club. Don’t just go for the big move. Look at Dele Alli at Spurs. There’s been a progression there from him starting at MK Dons to Tottenham. Make the move that means you
are progressing by still playing.’