LET’S DANCE
Jullien is inspired by ruthless Chicago Bulls in pursuit of historic ten-in-a-row
DEPRIVED of a chance to finish the season wearing hoops, Christopher Jullien settled for watching Michael Jordan shoot them instead.
An enthusiastic follower of basketball, Celtic’s French defender filled some of the empty hours of lockdown absorbing
The Last Dance — the engrossing Netflix documentary account of the all-conquering Chicago Bulls team of the 1990s.
The relentless will to win and perfectionism of basketball legends like Jordan and Dennis Rodman served as both an inspiration and a lesson. When Celtic go for ten-in-a-row next season, the central defender will have Bulls on his mind.
‘I finished The Last Dance on Wednesday and it was amazing. One of the best ever,’ he said.
‘As a sportsman, I take a lot of inspiration from it and learn so much.
‘You see Michael Jordan’s talent, how he plays the games, his focus and the way he brings all his team-mates with him.
‘I love basketball and I also have the Kobe Bryant book in my house right now, The Mamba
Mentality.
‘It goes through his life and how he played the game. Phil Jackson, the Bulls’ coach in The Last
Dance, features in it, too. ‘He also coached Bryant and says there are a lot of similarities between them.
‘You can’t watch and read about worldclass athletes like that without thinking about how you can improve your game.
‘They are the basketball GOATs (Greatest Of All Time) and if you can even take a little bit from their stories, it will help you.
‘The sports are different but the mentality at Celtic has to be the same. We need to be ruthless.
‘On the field, you almost have to be someone else. That’s how important mentality is.’
When he sat around a hotel table in Dubai in January, Jullien outlined the mentality he had to adopt when leaving Toulouse for Celtic for £7million.
Where drawing a game away from home in Ligue One was no disaster, the Scottish champions returned from the Middle East with no margin for error. From the close of December when they lost to Rangers, to the end of a season brought to a premature halt, they proved relentless.
‘I remember when I first signed for Celtic that I was amazed at the mental strength of the players,’ said Jullien.
‘I spoke to Callum (McGregor) and guys like that and asked: “How can you stay at this level of success for so long?”.
‘To become champions is hard but to stay champions is even harder. ‘Your opponents become stronger and stronger and you need to increase your own levels.’
While Jullien tasted success over Rangers after claiming a disputed winner in the Betfred Cup final, title celebrations were curtailed by the grim reality of coronavirus. Yet to sample how it
really feels to win a league championship, the motivation to secure a tenth straight title burns strong.
‘What Celtic have done for the last nine years is incredible and I can’t wait for more,’ continued the Frenchman. ‘I don’t think the season just finished will be our
Last Dance at Celtic. ‘We are all determined to come back stronger and throw everything at winning the league again. Teams are going to have to go hard to stop us.’
With a bitter legal battle raging in his native France over the decision to end the football season early and relegate Amiens, Jullien understands the depth of feeling which followed the SPFL doing likewise.
Dismissive of claims from ex-Rangers defender Gareth McAuley that Celtic’s nine-in-arow was ‘tainted and hollow’, he said: ‘We were 13 points clear and it’s clear we were the best team in the league.
‘When the season has to end like this, then you are always going to get people speaking against it.
‘For me, it definitely is a title I am proud of. I will get my medal, I have won the trophy for Celtic and that is perfect. If people want to talk it down, I will just ignore it.’
Like his team-mates, Jullien sampled a sip of champagne from the Premiership trophy when it was delivered to his house in a goodwill gesture from the club.
‘I am really happy right now and I felt very moved when the trophy was delivered to my house,’ he said. ‘It was a huge moment for me to win my first league championship.
‘When I arrived at Celtic, I knew I would have to become a new man on and off the field. To receive that trophy was just the perfect achievement.
‘It was hard not to celebrate with the fans but that will motivate us even more next season.
‘I will always remember the Betfred Cup final because of how the game went.
‘To score the winning goal was huge and the celebrations were amazing. It was one of the best games I have ever experienced.
‘But winning the league is an even bigger achievement. It’s about the process from the start of the season.’
Jullien learned how it felt to win big when he played alongside Paul Pogba and Yaya Sanogo in France’s Under-20s World Cup triumph in 2013.
A penalty shoot-out victory over Uruguay made France the first nation to win the World Cup at all five age levels.
Yet Jullien insists that winning a league and Betfred Cup Double with Celtic feels bigger.
‘Winning the World Cup brings me huge memories, for sure,’ he said. ‘I played with an unbelievable squad and our team at that time was just the best.
‘But I didn’t play too often and, although I was part of the squad victory, when you aren’t on the pitch something is missing.
‘This season, I played all of the games for Celtic once I got my full fitness at the start.
‘I played in the big games, I scored goals and I really felt like I played a big part in the achievement.
‘To be part of a historic title like this for Celtic is way bigger for me than the World Cup.’