Sport: Europe the ‘main thing’ says Celtic captain Brown
● Parkhead skipper dismisses notion that ten-in a-row chase overshadows Europe
Scott Brown has insisted Celtic won’t place their quest for a record tenth consecutive domestic league title ahead of their remaining European ambitions this season.
Following their elimination from the Champions League at the hands of Ferencvaros last month, Celtic will begin their Europa League campaign with a single leg third qualifying round tie against Riga in Latvia on Thursday evening.
If they progress, the Scottish champions will then face either Bosnian side Sarajevo or Buducnost Podgorica away from home in the play-off round on 1 October.
Celtic reached the last 32 of the Europa League last season, topping a group which included Lazi o, an d Brown says another lengthy run in the tournament is now the “main thing” for his club this season.
He is dismissive of any suggestion Europ ean football’s secondar y comp etition has less significance b ecause of Celtic’s historic bid to retain their Premiership crown and eclipse the nine-in-a-row record they currently share with Old Firm rivals Rangers.
“No, we don’t buy into that,” said the Celtic captain.
“The Champions League wasn’t to be for us this year, but we had a great run in the Europa League last year.
“Here’s hoping we can get another good group and get out of it again this season. But the main thing is getting into the group stage in the first place. We want to be in Europe. We have a huge game on Thursday we need to win. If we get through, we have another one to deal with in the play-off round but we want to be there.
“The disappointment of the Champions League takes time to shake off, definitely. But you can’t let it get into your mind. It was a few weeks ago now and we have a long season ahead of us. We were all devastated not to do it in the Champions League but the Europa League is the main thing for us now as a club.”
“We were all devastated not to do it in the Champions League but the Europa League is the main thing now”
There is a p erception that Celtic, so far this season, have largely been a shadow of the side which has dominated Scottish football to an unprece - dented degree in recent seasons.
It’s not an impression which is sup - ported by statistics – for in racking up 19 points from their first seven Premiership fixtures, the S cottish champions have matched the tallies they recorded in each of their first two seasons under Brendan Rogers when they began to exert their current iron grip on domestic silverware.
Celtic have recovered from a turbulent start to the campaign in which Boli Bolingoli’s breach of Covid-19 protocol saw them have two games postponed while Rangers seized the early initiative in the title race.
Saturday’s 3-2 win at home to Livingston, coupled with Rangers’ 2-2 draw at Hibs the following day, now sees Celtic with the notional advantage of being just one point behind their Old Firm rivals with a game in hand.
Celtic captain Scott Brown accepts that he and his team-mates have yet to find their optimum form. But the midfielder, at the heart of every title-winning campaign in their nine-in-a-row run, knows that winning ugly can hold the key to their bid for a record-breaking tenth consecutive domestic crown.
“I don’t think we’ve hit top gear yet,” said Brown. “S ometimes you have to grind these games out and just get the results.
“You don’t worry about the performances at the end of the season – not if you’ve won the league. It’s all about points on the board, obviously.
“But we want to play better. We want to make sure we control games from start to finish a lot better. We don’t want to b e defending a 3-2 lead for the last 15 minutes every week.
“Everyone has to understand that you won’t always be at your 100 per cent best. There are times when the level will slip.
“The team changes, some people might get rested, but it’s just about winning the games at the end of the day.
“Sometimes you just have to grind out the wins and get the results, especially away from home. There are times when you are under the cosh a bit but that’s when you need to be focused and well drilled in your formation. You need to be at it defensively and in attack but that’s what the manager wants from us. He demands those high standards.
“We’re delighted to be back up there in the league table. We always had to take it just one game at a time.
“There was nothing we could do about
the two games we missed as a team. But we’ve managed to win the first of them, beating St Mirren in a hard game – and then getting another three points against Livingston.
“There is a lot of pressure on us all the time. People just expect us to win ever y single game. But it’s always hard work and we’ve done extremely well, especially against Livingston at the weekend there.
“You go a goal down two games in a row but the fighting spirit we showed to come back, to create that gap between us and Livingston and make it 3-1 was great. They then scored a great goal to make it 3-2.
“We definitely have to show the same desire in ever y game, tr y to win ever y game and put in good performances.
“There might be some stop-starts along the way because of Covid but we have to deal with that. I think ever yone’s going to have to deal with it. It’s a difficult situation for ever yone, not just us playing football.”
Brown claims Celtic remain unconcerned by the progress of Rangers’ challenge to their supremacy but says there is no talk of ten-in-a-row within the champions’ dressing-room. “We talk about nine-in-a-row because we’ve done that. We talk about Livingston – because that was last weekend. But do we talk about ten? No. For us, it’s about doing the same as we’ve always done. You don’t want to get too far ahead of yourselves or carried away.
“If you start looking at games and thinking, we’ve got a cup semi or final here, a big game there, it’s an easy treble.
“There’s no such thing as an easy treble. Things never go to plan. It’s about taking each game individually and that’s what makes these lads so strong.
“For us, we just concentrate on ourselves. We don’t worry about anyone else. I think that’s what every team does individually. They want the best out of each other and we will always do that. We aim to get success here ever y year and push the boundaries all the time, whether it’s pushing current players or bringing in others.
“The manager has brought in a lot of players and there have been changes in the team and formation. So it’s been great that we have been able to keep winning matches at the same time.
“We just concentrate on the game ahead. We don’t get too excited, don’t get too emotional.
“We play the game and focus on who we’re playing. That’s the big thing, not getting carried away with our form.
“If we keep winning games, all we know is we’ll keep as mile on everyone’ s faces. We aim to do that for as long as we possibly can.”