The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
Tough start for Celtic
County manager McIntyre reckons Hoops endured a taste of Scottish life
Celtic’s Champions League campaign got off to a brutal start at Parkhead last night when they were swept aside 5-0 by French club Paris St Germain.
Ross County manager Jim McIntyre reckons champions Celtic now know how the rest of Scottish football feels after the Champions League mauling at the hands of Paris St Germain.
The County manager likened the financial gulf between the Hoops and the French billionaires to the chasm in resources the Dingwall team will attempt to bridge on Saturday at Parkhead.
Celtic were swept aside 5-0 by PSG at Parkhead last night and McIntyre embraced the parallels at play as Celtic prepared to switch focus from Neymar to the Staggies and said: “Is Ross County playing Celtic comparable to Celtic playing Paris St Germain? Probably.
“You could liken it to that. There’s a massive gulf in finance between both of those clubs and, likewise,
“Massive gulf in finance between both of those clubs”
between us and Celtic.”
McIntyre knows all of Celtic’s energy and focus will have been consumed by the PSG match right up until last night’s final whistle.
Equally, though, he knows Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers, who he worked with at Reading under his mentor Tommy Burns, will be impeccable in his preparations for Saturday’s Premiership match.
McIntyre said: “Brendan has amassed a fantastic squad and they have a Champions League game against superstars of the world. All of their focus was on that, but as soon as that was done their preparation will be on us.
“It’s a great challenge for us going to Parkhead and one we want to embrace, trying to stand up to their qualities, but equally try to bring out your own qualities. Nothing changes when we go down there – we know we need to play out of our skin to get a result. That’s the aim for us.”
There is a well-trodden assumption that catching Celtic in the aftermath of one of these raucous, adrenalin-charged European evenings offers a degree of advantage to provincial clubs.
Results, though, fail to bear this out.
Celtic’s last 20 European outings have been followed up by 18 domestic victories and two draws, albeit with St Johnstone last month managing to secure a point at four days after the hosts secured qualification against Astana.
County have proven generally troublesome to the champions, winning one and drawing two of their last six tussles, although the victory came in the League Cup during Ronny Deila’s last season in charge.
McIntyre added: “I would back my team going into any game. I feel we’ve got the players, on their day, who can get positive results against the best teams – we’ve proven that. We need to play well, one to 11. There must be top performances from us and, equally, with one or two of Celtic’s players maybe not at their best.
“But on any given day, it can be done, as St John- stone showed the other week when they were unfortunate not to win – it is possible.
“We will go there with the belief we can get a result but we know we are going to have to defend well and not leave spaces. Celtic’s movement throughout their team, from backto-front, presents lots of different problems.”