Brown demands full-steam Celtic

CELTIC captain Scott Brown last night warned his team-mates that they have no excuses for not performing at full throttle in today’s lunchtime encounter at Aberdeen.

After a gruelling Europa League win over Lazio on Thursday night, Neil Lennon’s Premiership champions have been charged with a quick turnaround for today’s 12:15pm kick-off in the north east.

Brown, 34, is no stranger to such

assignments but, crucially, believes Lennon’s team showed remarkable levels of fitness against Lazio.

Despite trailing the Rome side at half-time, Celtic fought back to equalise and then score an 89th-minute winner from the head of defender Christopher Jullien.

‘We could have played an extra 10 minutes against Lazio, the lads have that belief in themselves,’ said Brown. ‘We kept going until the 94th minute and looked the fitter team.

‘I don’t think there have been many times we could say that we looked the fitter team against top-quality opposition.

‘Thursday was great, the fans were incredible but the next game is the most important one. I know it is a cliché but it is true. The league is huge and we have an early kick-off to deal with.

‘We couldn’t travel any further but we need to do it. We need to go up and deal with it and make no excuses.

‘We had a day off on Friday so that we are fresh and ready.’

Celtic have dropped points in their two previous away fixtures in the league, drawing at Hibernian at the end of September and then losing at Livingston after another European win over Cluj earlier this month.

‘It has been like this for a while,’ continued Brown. ‘Last season, we were in the Europa League beyond Christmas and had to deal with playing Thursday/Sunday.

‘I am sure the gaffer will be thinking about freshness but whoever plays needs to go out there and get three points. We need to make sure we maintain our form.’

Brown has watched footage of

Aberdeen’s most recent game, a 3-0 victory at Fir Park last weekend. He added: ‘They had a great result against Motherwell.

‘It is going to be hard up there. It always is because, while they do try to get the ball down, they turn it into a battle.

‘We need to make sure we go up there, dominate the ball and create the chances that we know we can.’