CELTIC CAN USE PACE TO PROSPER

EVEN though Hapoel Be’er Sheva’s top priority tomorrow night will be denying Celtic the opportunity to build a handsome first-leg lead, the Israeli champions will undoubtedly pick their moments to try to snare the prized away goal.

In the view of Ryan Christie, however, those instances when the home fans will require a sharp intake of breath will immediately precede his own side being at their most potent.

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers has an arsenal stocked with that most feared weapon in the modern-day game — pace.

The counter-attacking game, in Christie’s reckoning, will suit them down to a tee.

‘We will have to see how the game goes,’ Christie mused. ‘If we go two goals up and Hapoel start pressing us, we will be able to pick them off on the counter-attack.

‘Sometimes, it’s just about holding on to what you’ve got and not being too greedy. But we’ve got great options on the counterattack now with Scott Sinclair and Moussa Dembele in the squad.

‘That’s a part of our game that we’ve been working on. If we’ve got a 10 or 15-minute spell where we have to defend a bit and be behind the ball, we feel we have the quality now to pounce on teams when we win it back. It’s good to know we’ve got that in the team now.’

Christie was still an Inverness Caley Thistle player when Celtic contrived to turn a 3-1 home lead to Malmo a year ago into a 3-2 final score and, predictably, a 4-3 aggregate defeat.

Yet, the naivety of the way Ronny Deila’s side lost their way in the tie was apparent even to his young eyes.

He soundly believes, however, that, under Rodgers, Celtic have already acquired a much needed diploma in game-management.

‘We’re a lot more street-smart now than we maybe were at the start of the season,’ Christie added.

‘Tactically, the whole team has come on leaps and bounds since the start of the season in terms of pressing as a team and as individuals.’

It doesn’t pay to rake over the sins of the Deila era, but it’s apparent that, under Rodgers, talk of a sustained highpressing game is fact rather than fiction.

Hapoel should anticipate a highly-taxing 90 minutes as they seek to progress to the group stages.

‘It’s hard,’ Christie said of the effort required to carry out Rodgers’ instructions. ‘But we’re at the stage now where we are doing it very well.’