Juranovic is certain Celtic can defy odds

CELTIC are light on bodies this evening. After 19 winless games in Spain, history is hardly their friend either. With Ange Postecoglou’s patchwork side playing against a settled Real Betis outfit in the searing Seville heat, it could well be a long night.

Amid all the growing negativity and uncertainty, though, Josip Juranovic (below) sees an opportunity. A chance for the Australian’s makeshift team to demonstrate the folly in considering any outcome in football to be pre-ordained.

‘For me it is not about favourites,’ said the Croatian full-back. ‘You just saw Manchester United lose against Young Boys, so you can see the favourites don’t always win.

‘If you play like a team you can reach goals you would not believe. And that is the most important thing.

‘If you play as a team, you can beat a team who have spent a lot of money.’

As a Hajduk Split player back in 2017, Juranovic didn’t quite do enough to prove the theory over the course of a Europa League play-off with Everton.

Two goals down from the first leg, though, they had the Toffees where they wanted them when Josip Radosevic fired home from 40 yards.

Had Gylfi Sigurdsson not trumped him with an outrageous lob from even further out early in the second half, a different outcome seemed likely. ‘We drew 1-1,’ he recalled. ‘They scored (nearly) from their half of the pitch. But the most important thing was we played like a team. Hadjuk is a really good club. ‘Everton spent something like £150million on transfers that summer and they only beat us because of that goal. That shows you money is not everything.’ Juranovic already looks good value for the £2.5m Celtic paid Legia Warsaw for his services. Despite a losing debut when played at left-back at Ibrox, he has acquitted himself well. He pledges there is more to come. ‘I’m a right full-back but I can also play on the left,’ he explained. ‘In the two games I’ve played so far, I have given myself to the team and the coach. Now it’s all down to me to show my quality on the training pitch. ‘I like to play in the big games as it’s in the big games where you must show your quality. ‘You need to show you are calm with the ball and that you have the right attitude. ‘Everyone at Celtic likes to play at Champions League and Europa League level and these are the big stages where the players want to show themselves. ‘We want to prove that we are worthy of this stage.’