SERG: SURE BET HOOPS HAVE EDGE
REAL BETIS hero Sergio Canales reckons Spanish league chiefs have done Celtic a favour with their nightmare fixture list.
Manuel Pellegrini’s side welcome the Hoops to Seville tomorrow but were angered at La Liga scheduling which forced them to play late on Monday night, leaving Celtic with an extra 55 hours of rest.
The Spaniards chalked up a morale-boosting 2-1 win in Granada for their first league win of the season and former Real Madrid ace Canales was the hero with the last-minute winner.
But the Spain international admits the build-up for their Europa League opener was far from ideal.
He said: “It certainly does not help us having to play so late on a Monday night before we have to play Celtic on Thursday.
“There is so little time between the games and it’s something La Liga must look at and make sure it doesn’t happen again. The international break was good for me personally and I hope my goal is the start of something special.
“We knew we had to improve on the first few games of the season and we managed that.
“We are on the right track and we feel we are getting better.”
Betis boss Pellegrini reckons their victory won’t give any more of a boost ahead of their group stage opener against Ange Postecoglou’s men.
The ex-Manchester City chief said: “Winning is important no matter who the next game is against. If we had lost this game, it wouldn’t have had any impact against Celtic either.
“Thursday is a new game in a different competition where three points are the objective.
“Even if we had beaten Real Madrid there, it wouldn’t have changed how we approach the next game. We play to win always.
“It was important to get that first league win but I always said we were on the right path.”