Let’s show no fear, says Juranovic
Spirited showing against Real has given defender renewed belief Celtic can compete in European football’s elite competition
JOSIP JURANOVIC insists Celtic have nothing to fear as they head to Warsaw for the next step in their quest to qualify for the knock-out stage of the Champions League.
Waiting in Poland will be Shakhtar Donetsk, who are playing their home games outside of Ukraine due to the country’s ongoing war with Russia.
Although soundly beaten by three second-half Real Madrid goals on match-night one at Parkhead in Group F, full-back Juranovic insists Celtic have drawn confidence from their ability to match the reigning champions for close to an hour.
Shakhtar claimed an impressive 4-1 away win over
RB Leipzig, but Juranovic insists Celtic are capable of winning on Wednesday.
He said: ‘We need to get three points. Everybody is a good team in the Champions League but it’s because of that we are there, too.
‘We will fight for second place but if we perform like we did in the first half against Madrid, then we don’t need to be scared.’
AN emotional evening will unfold in Warsaw this Wednesday as Shakhtar Donetsk play their first ‘home’ match of the Champions League campaign. In accordance with Poland’s wider support of the Ukrainian people following the Russian invasion, locals have rallied around their adopted club and snapped up all available tickets for the match.
A 31,000 capacity crowd awaits and Josip Juranovic offers his own take on the eagerness of the Varsovians to attend.
‘I think they will come because of me and maybe we will get three points!’ quips the Celtic defender, a Legia Warsaw player until a little over a year ago.
The quote is vintage Juranovic — playful, sharp and just a little bit cocky.
The 27-year-old spent a year with Legia, so to describe this week’s match as a homecoming would be a stretch. However, he was popular with both supporters and team-mates alike and received an ovation in the dressing room after crashing home a 25-yard goal against Slavia Prague on his last appearance for the club in August of last year.
That goal did much to smooth Legia’s path into the group stage of the Europa League but for Juranovic, a new challenge beckoned.
A title-winning first season with Ange Postecoglou’s team secured automatic qualification for the Champions League. One of the bigger characters in the Parkhead dressing room, the Croatian defender is also one of its most compelling onfield performers and last Tuesday night he quite literally took his game to a different level as he went toe-to-toe with Real Madrid’s quicksilver winger Vinicius Junior.
When he wasn’t sticking an arm or a leg in to disrupt the Brazilian, Juranovic was bombing down the right flank in support of his attacking team-mates.
It all unravelled in the second half but for close to an hour Celtic gave as good as they got against the European champions.
Bruised after their 3-0 defeat, Postecoglou’s men now face a run of four fixtures against opponents who should be closer to their own skillset.
Third seeds Shakhtar disrupted the order by winning 4-1 away to RB Leipzig on night one but will not be in Madrid’s class.
One school of thought might be for Celtic to bed into the competition and avoid defeat this week but this Celtic team is not built to defend.
‘Why a point?’ retorts Juranovic, when the notion of a draw is suggested. ‘We need to get three. That’s for me the highest point.
‘Everybody is a good team in the
Champions League but it’s because of that we are there, too.
‘We will fight for second place but if we perform like we did in the first half against Madrid, then we don’t need to be scared.’
Fearless in their approach against Carlo Ancelotti’s all-conquering Madristas, Celtic were left harbouring feelings of regret after a high-octane first half in which they pressed their opponents to distraction and played some incisive football that should have yielded at least one goal.
Cool in possession and tenacious on the back foot, captain Callum McGregor typified the Celtic performance and the moment his thumping shot came crashing back off the inside of Thibaut Courtois’ right-hand post summed up the opening 45 for the home team.
Yet there were other chances. Deadly in front of goal as he grabbed five in his previous two league matches, Liel Abada’s composure deserted him when played through on goal.
And the Israeli’s half-time replacement Daizen Maeda missed perhaps the best chance of all when he scuffed Juranovic’s cross straight at Courtois with the scores still level.
‘It was two halves,’ sighed Juranovic. ‘The first half we took it very serious, we had our chances.
‘Callum hit the post unfortunately and then second half with Daizen we didn’t score. Of course it’s Real Madrid, so if we have our chances and don’t score they will have one and score from it immediately.
‘If we take the first half into our next games, there’s much to be positive about. We need to delete this second half. Real didn’t have full chances — it was like half-chances but they took them and we didn’t, that’s all.’
Just as he’d done at the Euros last summer, Luka Modric left Glasgow having broken a few local hearts. Just days short of his 37th birthday, the Real playmaker dovetailed brilliantly with Toni Kroos and Aurelien Tchouameni in midfield to exert control and eventually scored Madrid’s second goal with the outside of his right boot.
So immaculate was his football that the home crowd rose in appreciation when he was replaced by Marco Asensio late in the match. Later, a slightly forlorn Juranovic caught up with his international team-mate.
‘I spoke with Luka after the game and he told me that the crowd was amazing and that we played good, first half especially, and that we need to continue like that,’ he said.
‘What can I say? He’s captain of my national team, a really good person and you saw tonight that he’s a really good player, too.
‘We have had a very good start to the season and because of that our confidence is high. If we continue like that, then we can take some points.
‘We need to prepare for Warsaw. Poland is now my third country and I am looking forward to going back.
‘We will have our fans with us, if not in the stadium then in our minds. Because of what happened on Tuesday we need to give them something.’
If Juranovic is likely to catch up with a few friendly faces this week, those coaches and staff members at Celtic who predate Postecoglou’s appointment will also be reacquainted with someone familiar.
Marian Shved was barely sighted in a Celtic jersey following his £2m transfer from Karpaty Lviv in 2019, one of the last pieces of business done during Brendan Rodgers’ reign as manager.
The Ukrainian winger scored once for the club in a Champions
League qualifying match against
Estonians Nomme
Kalju and, after a year on loan at Mechelen, was transferred permanently to the Belgian club following Postecoglou’s arrival.
On transfer deadline day he transferred again, this time to Shakhtar where he started with a bang, rattling in two goals in that demolition of Leipzig, a result that ended Domenico Tedesco’s time in charge of the German side.
Celtic fans will recall the likes of Harald Brattbakk and Jo Inge Berget returning to haunt the club after short spells in Glasgow but Juranovic has his own goals ahead of this week.
Having signed off for Legia with an away goal, he did not get a chance to say a proper farewell at the Polish Army Stadium.
A scorer in Celtic’s 9-0 demolition of Dundee United last month, he would love to mark his return with a goal.
‘We will see,’ he laughed. ‘Maybe I will take some chances. Our confidence is really high but we missed some opportunities against Real, which is not usual.
‘We need to study the video and talk with our manager and see what we need to do.’
If we play like we did in the first half, we don’t need to be scared
Real Madrid only had half chances but they took them and we didn’t