EUROPEAN NIGHTS RELEASE THE PRESSURE FOR LUSTIG
Lustig relishing the return of those big European nights and the all too rare experience of not being the hot favourites
FORGET the glamour, the prestige and even the hard cash. Mikael Lustig is simply looking forward to playing with the rare freedom that the Champions League affords Celtic. Pitched into a fiendishly tough group alongside Barcelona, Manchester City and Borussia Monchengladbach, the Scottish champions will take on the status of underdogs, a mantle that presents a relaxation in pressure on a group of players expected to win every time they take to the field.
When Lustig agreed to move to Scotland from Rosenborg in late 2011, he was made well aware of the expectations at his new club and, with an unbroken string of titles to his name, he can claim to have handled the challenge pretty well.
Yet it’s the two tilts at Europe’s premier club competition that bring about the best memories.
Lustig was on duty at right-back the night Celtic defeated Barca in 2012 but made arguably greater contributions to the team’s qualification for the last 16 when first he stood in as a surrogate centre-half to help shut out Benfica, and temporarily morphed into a right winger to set up Gary Hooper for the watershed opening goal in the away victory over Spartak Moscow.
The tournament brings out the best in the Swede and, after two years of bumping along in the Europa League, he admits to feeling energised at the big nights that lie in wait.
‘This is such a tough group that we just feel like we have nothing to lose,’ said Lustig. ‘The last couple of years in the Europa League, we felt like we had to get through the groups to make it a good season. We needed to win games.
‘This time, it’s the Champions League. Of course we want to take points and go through but we know it’s going to be tough.
‘The pressure is not on us, though. It’s unusual to be in that position as a Celtic player. Playing at Celtic Park against world-class players and teams, the fans are going to be with us all the way. If we lose the ball, it won’t matter and if we win a tackle they are going to get mental. That feeling is one of the best you can have.’
While Lustig, now 29, is something of a veteran of these occasions, the forthcoming campaign has the feel of a bright new adventure for manager Brendan Rodgers.
The Northern Irishman has managed in the competition before with Liverpool, but a huge part of the attraction of managing the club he grew up supporting lay in the potential of restoring them to Europe’s top table.
If a qualification process bookended by defeats in Gibraltar and Israel was fraught, Rodgers and his players have earned the right to savour the prospect of the six marquee nights that lie ahead. The former Anfield chief would love to make his mark on the competition by guiding Celtic to the knock-out stages but admits he is revelling in the prospect of simply taking part.
‘The expectancy around Celtic is huge domestically, but there’s realism around facing the likes of Manchester City and Barcelona,’ he said. ‘They’re superpowers of world football in terms of the financial clout they have to attract players.
‘Borussia Monchengladbach are historically a big club who fell away but are coming back. From a coaching perspective, it’s brilliant because you have different challenges to navigate your way through. We’ll look to try to find a way to gain something from the games. You have to really go and enjoy them — that’s the message. There’s nothing to lose. You want to do your very best and have no fear. Take on the challenge and embrace it.’
Rodgers may have grown up a Celtic fan and occasionally ventured across the water to watch his team, but he was denied a European experience at Parkhead until accepting the manager’s job.
He admits to being blown away by the din created during the first leg of the play-off match against Hapoel Be’er Sheva but has had no shortage of well-wishers telling him to expect an even greater cacophony when Manchester City arrive in Glasgow on match night two.
‘Over many years, the club has had some incredible nights,’ he said. ‘I’m really looking forward to it. Everybody
has been saying: “Wait until you qualify” so now we have qualified I can imagine what the Manchester City game is going to be like.
‘I have read the (Lionel) Messi quotes about the best atmosphere he has played in. Owen Hargreaves who was here with Bayern Munich said the same. Those teams are looking at it thinking: “It’s not the best draw we could have had”.
‘Even though we were in Pot Four, it could be a long night. I think they understand Celtic is a tough game. So they will be respectful of us.
‘For me, the objective is to do the very best we can. There is no shame in doing your best. You just never know what will happen. We understand it is going to be incredibly difficult.
‘You could argue that the top teams from each of the pots are in one group. Gladbach is the top team in Pot Three, Manchester City in Pot Two, Barcelona are Barcelona and then us from Pot Four. But it is amazing. It is great to be involved and I cannot wait.’
Before City arrive for that grand cross-border battle, there is the not insignificant matter of a trip to the Nou Camp for the section opener.
Lustig was again on duty the last time the teams met in Barcelona, with Neymar running riot in a 6-1 victory for the hosts in late 2013. That concluded a miserable campaign which saw Neil Lennon’s team finish bottom of their section, but Lustig insists there is no fatigue factor around facing the Catalans.
With Neymar and Messi now joined by Luis Suarez in a front three that is peerless in world football, a night to sap both the brain and body is in store for Lustig and his fellow defenders but he would not have it any other way.
‘You want to play in different stadiums but you never get tired of playing Barcelona in the Nou Camp,’ he said. ‘We have a different team from the last time we met, and so do they. That was a tough night but we weren’t the first side to go there and concede goals and we won’t be the last.
‘You can’t switch off for a second against them. If you do, they score in the blink of an eye. It’s such a different kind of game — and after it you’re tired mentally, you have to concentrate so much.
‘It’s a great draw. I’ve got some friends who play with Monchengladbach, the likes of Oscar Wendt, and there will be an unbelievable atmosphere when we go there.
‘And to face a team from England, I wanted that because we’ve never had that before. I reckon Manchester City are going to be better than last year.
‘We don’t want to just go in and say we have played in the Champions League. We want to do something big. Something that we can remember for the rest of our careers.’
Of course we want to take points and go through — but we know that it is going to be tough