Turnbull aiming at goal targets in bid for Euro slot
In his fledgling football career, David Turnbull already boasts a goal every second start.
The Celtic attacker’s latest strike – another sweet-spot hit from distance that earned Neil Lennon’s men a 1-0 victory at home to Aberdeen on Wednesday evening – banked him goal number seven for the club he joined in a £3.5 million deal from Motherwell last summer.
Those Celtic goals come on top of the 16 he bagged during 35 starts and six substitute appearances for the Fir Park club.
The 21-year-old’s Celtic haul has come across his 16-game run of starts since he netted in the Europa League closer that produced a 3-2 victory at Lille in early December. His senior numbers then, in total, read 25 goals in 50 starts and 12 sub outings.
Little wonder that Turnbull
admits to being a player who sets goal targets.
The playmaker refuses to divulge the figure he set for himself in his first season at Parkhead, which he says has been altered by the four months it took for him to earn regular game time. Here we can speculate, though.
Turnbull would have recognised he would need beddingin time with Neil Lennon’s men. He would have hoped, no doubt, to have started a few more games before December to sit around the 30-game mark for his first Celtic campaign. Trusting his averages, it would seem reasonable to assume he was looking for the 15-goal return of his breakthrough season of 2018-19 with the Fir Park club.
It is more likely that, injury and form permitting, he will end this season with around 25 starts.
As a result, one of the few players to have shone for Celtic amid the gloom of an accursed quest for a 10th straight Premiership title is probably pitching for a 12-goal haul, though he won’t let on.
“I do set goal targets but I changed it a wee bit after the start of the season, because I wasn’t playing. But I hope I can get it,” Turnbull said.
“I did the same at Motherwell. I feel I have been in great form and have scored some great goals. I would just like to keep adding to that. I would just like to continue creating and scoring as many chances as I can.
"I would say there is more to come. Obviously, against
Aberdeen I scored another goal, but I would like to add to that and get more assists. I want to keep creating more chances in every game.
"I am sure there will be more to come. It obviously feels good when you get the plaudits some of the time, but it’s a team game.
"Every game I have been involved in I feel the team has done well. It is just nice to contribute however I can.”
Turnbull’s outstanding recent form has pushed his claim to be considered by Steve Clarke’s Scotland squad for this summer’s Euro finals. The pathway patently exists, with team-mates Callum Mcgregor, Ryan Christie and James Forrest having proved crucial components of the national set-up.
“We have great players in the team who have done well for both club and country over the years. I would like to follow in their footsteps and do the same,” he said. “Whether that happens or not I don’t know. But I hope so.”
Gareth Bale reminded Tottenham of what he can offer as he registered a goal and an assist in a 4-1 Europa League win against Wolfsberger.
Bale, pictured, has been a shadow of his former self since his loan return from Real Madrid and looked to have fallen out with boss Jose Mourinho last week after making himself unavailable for the FA Cup game at Everton.
But he was restored to the side for the last-32 first-leg tie in Budapest and put in his best display since returning to the club, as he set up Son Heung-min's opener and then doubled the lead with a fine goal.
Lucas Moura put Spurs further in front before the break and Carlos Vinicius added a late fourth as they put one foot in the last 16.
Mourinho's side offered the Austrians some hope as Michael Liendl scored a second-half penalty, but they should face little resistance in finishing the job in next Wednesday's second leg.
Leicester are in pole position to reach the last 16 after a 0-0 draw with Slavia Prague at the Eden Arena in the first leg of their last-32 tie.
Boss Brendan Rodgers has never reached the last 16 of the competition after four attempts with Liverpool and Celtic.
But after a draw in the Czech Republic the Foxes will be confident ahead of next week's second leg at the King Power Stadium.
RESULTS/FIXTURES LAST NIGHT
Uefa Europa League Round of 32, first legs
Antwerp 3 Rangers 4, Benfica 1 Arsenal 1, Braga 0 Roma 2, Dynamo Kiev 1 Club Brugge 1, Granada 2 Napoli 0, Krasnodar 2 Dinamo Zagreb 3, Lille 1 Ajax 2, Maccabi Tel-aviv 0 Shakhtar Donetsk 2, Molde 3 Hoffenheim 3, Olympiacos 4 PSV 2, Real Sociedad 0 Man Utd 4, Red Bull Salzburg 0 Villarreal 2, Red Star Belgrade 2 AC Milan 2, Slavia Prague 0 Leicester 0, Wolfsberger AC 1 Tottenham Hotspur 4, Young Boys 4 Bayer Leverkusen 3.
TONIGHT
English Premier League
Wolverhampton v Leeds (8.00)
Sky Bet Championship
Watford v Derby (7.45)