CELTIC MORE LIKE BARCA BHOYS THAN LISBON LIONS

ST JOHNSTONE stand between Celtic and a club record set 50 years ago, when the Lisbon Lions were swatting aside all before them. Should the Scottish champions avoid defeat at home tomorrow night, Brendan Rodgers’ men would join the Class of 1966-67 on 26 consecutive domestic games unbeaten in the same season. For Saints boss Tommy Wright, however, a better yardstick to measure the vast improvement under Rodgers from the Ronny Deila era can be found in a comparison with a Celtic team whose European adventures came just five years ago. The Northern Irishman believes this current Parkhead vintage is the finest since Neil Lennon’s men got the better of Lionel Messi and Co en route to the last 16 of the Champions League in 2012-13. ‘The Celtic team that beat Barcelona under Lenny were a really good side,’ nodded Wright. ‘They got to the last 16 of the Champions League. ‘What impresses me about the current team is the tempo they play at because they put you under pressure when they have the ball. ‘But even more than that, the way they press you when they don’t have the ball is massively important. That’s something Lenny had in his team and Brendan has got that as well. ‘With all respect to Ronny Deila, he had that at the start, but then it tailed off a bit. They have that back under Brendan and I’d definitely say this team are up there with the one Lenny took through the group stage of the Champions League.’ Wright does not believe Celtic’s players will be distracted by their chance to walk in the footsteps of giants. However, his Saints players travel down to Glasgow as away day specialists, having gained draws at Ibrox, Pittodrie and Tynecastle this season. In fact, a surprise Hogmanay defeat to Dundee at Dens Park was just the Perth team’s second league loss on the road since last April. ‘I don’t think the club record will be on Celtic’s minds at all,’ said Wright. ‘Records like that don’t come into players and managers’ heads at this stage of a season. ‘Maybe if it was the final game of the season and they were still unbeaten, it might be on their minds. But all Brendan will be interested in is getting a win to try and get the league won as quickly as possible. ‘Of course, it would be nice to beat them, but you can only think about that afterwards. We’re not banging our chests saying: “Let’s become the first team to beat them” or anything like that. ‘We want to get something from the game, whether that’s one point or three. ‘It’s a huge achievement for the smaller clubs like ours to go to Celtic, Rangers, Hearts and Aberdeen and get something. And we have a decent record of doing it in the past, but that doesn’t count for anything now. ‘It’s a challenge, but players like being challenged. We go there as underdogs, so there’s the chance to prove people wrong. We like that. ‘Nobody expects us to get anything from it, so you can use that.’