CELTIC captain Scott Brown has vowed to set the record straight against Cluj this week after the Romanians dumped his side out of the Champions League.
For Brown, the rematch between the teams on Thursday has a personal edge to it, after his crazy handball on the night gifted Dan Petrescu’s men a way back into the game just as Celtic looked to be taking control, eventually going on from there to clinch a 4-3 victory.
Brown is still angry with himself over that aberration, and he is determined to make amends to the Celtic supporters by securing a win to build on the creditable draw against Stade Rennais in their Europa League group opener.
“Every game is personal for me,” Brown said. “I want to win every single game and I always think I can do better. I believe I can do better.
“In the last match I gave away a hand ball, and that is not like me. It was just one of those freak things that happened.
“We didn’t perform the way we should again Cluj last time. That’s what we want to put right this time.
“Was I glad to get them again? I don’t know. When you look at the teams we have landed, we could have had an easier group.
“But you have to play against top teams in this competition. Lazio are up there but Cluj are also a top side, as they’ve shown against us and now Lazio. I think everyone expected Lazio to win but they said the same when they came to our place.
“We played really well over there and got a good result. We were a bit unlucky not to win in Romania. We were confident going back to Celtic Park but losing that late goal was a killer.
“It’s probably the one game we’d look back on this season – especially me with the handball. It was a weird night, but it was a big kick up the backside. We need to maintain a certain standard at this club throughout the season and it was a huge disappointment for us going out of the Champions League.
“For us it’s about how we keep improving and showing we have kicked on again since that night.
“We want to progress in this competition as it’s important for us to be involved in Europe after Christmas. We’ve had a sniff of it in the last couple of seasons and we want that to continue.
“Their win at our place adds a wee bit extra to the game. We know what to expect from them. They got the better of us, so we want to put the record straight.”
Despite Celtic’s perfect start to the Premiership season coming to an end on Saturday with a draw against Hibernian at Easter Road, Brown says that his team have been buoyed ahead of Thursday’s match by the impressive point they earned on the road in France a fortnight ago.
“We’ve got off to a good start, picking up a point against a team who’d beaten PSG and Arsenal in recent times, so we will be full of confidence,” he said.
“I think we showed we can mix it up. We like to play through teams, but we can also go direct and the boys at back can come out with the ball and defend when they need to. We’re not predictable.
“We’ve got a very strong squad and we know when we can push it. It was just about how we played and how we dealt with the game (in Rennes). We wanted to press them into mistakes and that’s how it worked out.
“It was a fantastic performance and result and that’s what we need to take in to this next game.”
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