Brown will be right at home if clash gets a little heated

DIRECT comparisons don’t quite hold up. As Scotland prepare to host the Republic of Ireland in a hugely-important international clash of close cousins, though, it’s impossible to ignore similarities with a certain domestic fixture.

If tonight’s Euro 2016 tie does go all Old Firm on us, at least the home skipper — relishing this chance to represent his country at a club ground renowned for its big-match atmosphere — will be well prepared.

Scott Brown, arms folded and — to put it politely — playing the smart Alec with many of the questions a national team captain might be expected to answer on the eve of such a delicious fixture, was at his most eager and animated when asked about this game’s resemblance to a meeting between Celtic and Rangers.

‘Yeah, it’s definitely going to be like that,’ said the Celtic midfielder. ‘They’re going to try to come for us in the first 10 or 15 minutes, especially at our ground. So it’s going to be tough. But both teams have got great players, great managers, and everyone knows what it’s going to be like.

‘This will be different from a lot of international games. It’s going to start at 110 miles-an-hour, especially with 60,000 fans getting behind us.

‘As a player, you need to handle that. You’ve got to relax and not let the whole Scotland-Ireland, Rangers-Celtic, whatever it is, get to you. You have to focus on playing your own game. I have learned that over the years in these games.

‘Everyone’s first one, you focus on trying to win the battle. But it’s a different occasion for us, playing the Republic of Ireland on home soil at Celtic Park.

‘ We’ve got players who have been in big games before, who know what it’s about. They’ll get the ball down and pass it.’

Resisting the urge to get stuck in may be more difficult than i t sounds, given the wall of noise likely to greet the teams as they emerge from the tunnel. With the massive north stand holding 27,000 alone, the place more than lends itself to an arousing — or intimidating — reception.

Brown r ates this fixture as among the most important he will ever have played at Celtic Park, saying: ‘It’s going to be a great occasion. It will be about 95 per cent Scotland fans and it is going to be a great atmosphere. If anyone has been there on Champions League nights, you will know what that extra 10,000 or 12,000 can do to you, how it helps.

‘It’s as big a game as I’ve played in. But every game in these Euros is big. We’ve been playing quite well and we need to try to keep it as positive as possible, keep going forward, creating chances and see what we can do.’

Funny and quick in private, Brown had his game face on yesterday, batting away anything that strayed beyond his narrow definition of what constitutes a ‘football question’.

Talk of Aiden McGeady and the reception Ireland’s star man might receive was swatted aside by his former team-mate (below), who declared: ‘Let’s keep it about football. It’s all been about Aiden and Roy Keane — but let’s just talk about the game. Aiden is a great player’

The issue of Celtic’s former loan striker Robbie Keane’s potency as a goal threat received a higher word count, Brown saying: ‘He is a great player, too. He was with us for six months and, before that, I didn’t know how good he was. His movement is excellent, he is sharp and he has great goal- scoring ability. It was great to learn off such a top player.

‘But the players we have in the Scotland team inspire confidence. You look at that dressing room and any one of them could play. The manager knows the way we want to play and we know he wants us to keep going for 90 minutes, doing what he wants. If we do that, we’ve got a chance. We believe in the manager — and he believes in us.’

That sense of confidence will definitely be needed tonight.

Tin helmets and sharp elbows? Maybe for the first 10 minutes or so, in the best traditions of ‘derby matches’ the world over.

When the football breaks out, though, the best team is likely to win. And, hopefully, send this massi v e gathering of Scotland fans cock-a-hoop.