Oviedo out to shoot down his heroes

FORMER Everton and Sunderland star Bryan Oviedo admits he will find it hard to gun down Celtic this week — because the FC Copenhagen midfielder supports the club.

The Danes suffered a shock defeat on Friday night in their last game before they face Neil Lennon’s men when they crashed to a 1-0 loss at relegationthreatened Esbjerg.

Stale Solbakken’s side looked rusty as they returned from a two-month winter break and could have lost by more, with the hosts missing a penalty and hitting the bar.

Costa Rican ace Oviedo knows his colleagues will need to massively raise their game when they welcome Celtic to the Parken Stadium on Thursday.

He said: ‘Celtic are a really good team. In fact, I used to support them because a really good friend of mine, Cristian Gamboa, used to play for them.

‘So when I was playing in English football, I would always watch them and catch their games on TV.

‘They are a really strong team and it is going to be a huge test for us on Thursday.

‘Cristian started well at Celtic and it was good for him at first, but for whatever reason, he didn’t get as many games as he would have wanted and had to leave. So it was a hard time for him.

‘But when I spoke to him he never had a bad word to say about Celtic and told me what a fantastic club they are, with a great support. He told me their fans were the best in Europe.

‘And I was a team-mate of

Aiden McGeady at Sunderland and at Everton. I played with him for many years. He’s a great player and of course is a big Celtic fan too. So I certainly know all about Celtic.’

On Friday’s evidence, it is hard to see the Danes living with Celtic. Copenhagen were vulnerable at set-pieces and struggled to create chances.

‘We need to pick ourselves up as soon as possible because Thursday is a really important game for us,’ added Oviedo.

‘We have to be 100per-cent mentally and physically to compete with a team like Celtic.’