CRAIG: WE CAN WIN IT
SAYS CRAIG LEVEIN
Craig Levein claims Celtic will be out of their comfort zone at Murrayfield – and that gives Hearts an edge.
He said: “Hampden is Celtic’s second home. This is more neutral. I think we can win it.”
It wasn’t very good ... I left at half-time
Craig Levein’s only previous trip to a packed Murrayfield saw him walk out at half-time in disappointment. This time? He’s vowed to stick around for 90 minutes at least. The Hearts manager is thrilled that close to 30,000 Jambos will roar his side on in a 60,000-plus crowd as they bid to stop Celtic’s domestic six- trophy domestic juggernaut in its tracks. He reckons the decision to move the League Cup semi-final from Hampden, trebling the number of fans at the game, is a triumph for common sense. And he wants the occasion to fly the flag for Scottish sport across the world, not just along the M8 – unlike his last trip there as a fan in 2014. Levein said: “I’m staggered by that number. It’s been a hell of a long time since we took that kind of number to a final, never mind a semi-final. “We’re over 27,000 and that shows the wisdom of the SPFL putting the game at Murrayfield,” he added with a smirk. “I’ve actually only been to one rugby match where the place was as packed as it’ll be this weekend – and it wasn’t very good. “It was a Scotland-England game. The pitch was terrible and we were getting hammered at half-time so I left. Hopefully I’ll stay for the full 90 minutes this time! “It was common sense to take the game to Murrayfield. “We’d have had 10,000 fans at Hampden if it had been at 7.45pm on a Sunday night. “We’ve sold a lot of tickets to kids and families who otherwise wouldn’t have made the game. “And this is obviously going to be a much greater spectacle because we will have nearly 50 per cent of the crowd. “If you want to promote Scottish football, occasions like this are the perfect opportunity.
“Sometimes the supporters get forgotten in these things and this was one such situation where money became more important.
“People say Hampden is a neutral venue – wel l, Celtic have been to Hampden a lot more times than our players and it feels like a second home to them.
“Murrayfield is not a second home to us but it does make the game a bit more neutral.”
The shift of venue was just the latest in a litany of rows featuring both clubs, the most recent being complaints about the length of the grass at Tynecastle.
The football authorities have averted that one by revealing the pitches at Hampden and Murrayfield will be cut to exactly the same length.
Levein laughed: “They’ll be there measuring it, I’m sure – but they do know grass is constantly growing, right? By
the time they get back and measure it, it’ll have grown a couple of millimetres!”
Levein denied, however, that the verbals between them over the past couple of seasons, including a Brendan Rodgers blast for Hearts’ treatment of Ian Cathro had led to any serious niggle between the clubs.
He said: “It’s banter, eh? Brendan and I spoke for 25 minutes at Tynecastle last time so if there is any, then nobody has told me.”
Where their rivalry has become real, however, is on the pitch. Hearts have won two of thei r last four meetings, with only Levein and Kilmarnock’s Steve Clarke managing that against Rodgers’ Hoops.
The Tynecastle boss baulks at the suggestion they have Celtic, sussed, though.
He said: “I don’t think it’s as easy as that. Certain things have to happen to beat teams who, people would say, have better players than you.
“You need to take the opportunities that come your way, to help with the
belief in the team. That’s critical. Also your keeper and back three or four have to be good.
“Pressing at the right times to put them under pressure is vital. We’ve done that, even in the games we’ve lost recently. We’ve had moments when we should have scored and maybe changed who was in the ascendancy.
“The games we won, we scored when we had opportunities. But we had to work extremely hard to get in a position to win.
“Celtic have improved. Their last couple of results have been better and they seem to have hit their stride.
“We’re not in any way, shape or form thinking that because we won our last match against Celtic that automatically we can do the same again.”
There feels like an element of fate to Hearts’ campaign, ever since they were spared being kicked out of the tournament at the group stages.
Fined £10,000 and docked only two points for fielding an ineligible Andy Irving against Cove Rangers, they went on to salvage their spot with a penalties win over Raith Rovers before coming good against Cowdenbeath and Inverness Caley.
But Levein insists the reprieve was a turning point in a season that has seen the league leaders go from strength to strength.
He sa id : “It was a galvanising moment. We made an administrative mistake and the players had to try to pull us out of the hole.
“It gave us momentum going into the league and since then it’s been good.
“I don’t know how much being top of the league adds to our confidence but the boys are feeling pretty good. “We need to play well, defend properly, work harder than we have done in every other match this season, I’m sure.
“But what makes me feel good is that I think we can win. Did beating them in August put a doubt in Celtic’s heads? I don’t know, you’d need to ask them that.”