LEIGH GRIFFITHS was in a bullish mood as he looked forward to facing Ajax tomorrow night as he targeted two goals for himself in the Amsterdam Arena and promised an attacking Celtic performance.
The Parkhead striker, named Ladbrokes player of the month for August, insisted his team-mates felt no extra pressure heading into their first group match of what they hope is a lengthy Europa League campaign, and the overall emotion was excitement rather than tension following Saturday's defeat at Aberdeen, which came so soon after the nightmare in Malmo
Griffiths has nine goals to his name already this season, three having come in Europe, and the in-form 25-year-old is eyeing a double against the Dutch champions.
Asked if he fancied a goal on Thursday night, Griffiths said: "I wouldn’t mind. Two! To be honest, I couldn’t care who gets the goals as long as we come back to Glasgow with the points.
"I think it has the makings of a Champions League group, in everything but the name.We are going to be up against some top players, going to some top stadiums, but we have to perform. We can’t go over there and let teams counter-attack us because it will be a long, long 90 minutes. We have to treat it like a home game, we can't sit in and try to break teams down on the counter-attack
“I don’t think we feel under pressure, I think the players are looking forward to it. It’s an iconic stadium, the Amsterdam Arena, it’s going to be packed, we have to go there and express ourselves and play football. If we do that we have a good chance of winning the game."
Griffiths admitted that starting against Malmo in the home leg was the biggest boost to his confidence of this campaign.
"It was disappointing not to go through in the tie but to score in the third minute, getting the nod ahead of Nadir who had played the two previous games at home, that was massive for me," he said. "It gave me a lot of confidence. If I’m playing on Thursday I’ll look to try and get another two.”
It is to the Celtic man's great credit that his form forced the manager to change his mind about a player who spent the last four months of last season on the fringes.
"It’s gone better that I could have hoped for," said Griffiths. "I got my first Champions League goals and back into the Scotland squad, so it’s been good. Strikers thrive on goals and when you’re scoring that breeds confidence. But it’s not just about scoring goals, it’s about playing well and I’ve been doing that.
“It wouldn’t probably recognise myself from a year ago. But I can’t rest on my laurels from the last six months. I need to keep pushing myself forward, working hard and doing what I’ve been doing. That will make it hard for the manager to leave me out."
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