Cappielow and highs of facing Spaniards
STEPHEN WELSH has done the hard yards in Greenock and Dumbarton to prepare himself for nights like this one.
And the centre-half is convinced the experience of playing at grounds such as Morton’s Cappielow and Sons’ C&G Systems Stadium in the Youth Champions League three years ago will be key as he tries to handle a Real Betis attack fresh from beating Barcelona.
Welsh, 21, has recovered from a hamstring problem to be in contention for a start in the final group game of Celtic’s Europa League campaign,
The club can’t qualify for the knockout stages but he said: “We’ll be taking it as seriously as any other game. We’ll be going into it the same as any other.
“It’s another chance for us to go and show what we can do in Europe against a real top side in Betis.
“They beat Barcelona at the weekend and it doesn’t get any bigger than that.”
It’s a far cry from those youth games against some of Europe’s elite.
Welsh said: “When the first team was in the Champions League, I had a couple of seasons in the UEFA Youth League.
“I played against PSG, Bayern, Barcelona and some of the top young players in the world – it was a great experience.
“A couple of the games were at Cappielow and one or two at Dumbarton.
“It is a massive jump to go from playing the top young players in the world at these places to playing the top world-class players at Celtic Park.
“Cappielow was probably a shock to the system for some of those boys as well, coming over and playing in the freezing cold.
“But I’m sure most of them have kicked on into the first team and I want to do the same.”