Celtic throw Champions League 'free punch' narrative out dressing room window window as top seeds issued firm warning
Liam Scales insists Celtic can take their Champions League show on the road.
The Hoops got the league phase off to a flier with Wednesday’s five star battering of Slovan Bratislava to spark a Parkhead party. Brendan Rodgers’ men now face back-to-back away clashes with big guns Borussia Dortmund in Germany and Atalanta in Italy. Scales knows he home clashes could be vital in securing progress to the knockout stages with RB Leipzig, Club Brugge and Young Boys Bern on the way.
But the Irish ace is convinced Celts can produce more magic on their travels and are looking to pick up points away from Parkhead. Scales – who notched the opener against the Slovaks – said: “It’s the best start we could have hoped for. Obviously you feel the atmosphere at home. The teams coming here are going to feel that. It is important for us to pick up as many points at home as we can.
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"Now can we build on it? We have to use it as a platform to continue to get good results. I think we’re in a really good place at the moment. We’re probably in the best place we can be to go and do well this year in the Champions League. That’s the hope. We need to take it game by game and focus on picking up results.
“Even against the top-seed teams. We need a bit of belief. If we play our game and play well, we can do it. They (Dortmund and Atalanta) will be, on paper, probably the toughest ties that we have. Some people might say it’s a free punch, but for us it’s not. We want to go and approach every game the same way. We’re seeing them as games that we can potentially win. That’s how we prepare for them.”
Rodgers insisted going in his side would be going all out to make an impact – and Scales admitted confidence is soaring after a spectacular opening night. He said: “I wouldn’t have known what the manager was saying that publicly, but we’re getting it in the dressing room. We get that belief off him as well, first hand in the dressing room.
“He’s saying the same thing to us, that this is a year where we can really go and do well. I don’t think it really adds pressure to us, because we’re fully invested and we believe it as well. It’s just the mindset we have now.”
Scales is convinced Celts are in better shape for the Champions League than last season – and he also feels right at home. The defender said: “Yes, 100 per cent. For me personally, last year was my first experience of it. I was blown away in the first few minutes of the first game with the atmosphere. Now I can go in and I know what it’s going to be like.
“That makes a difference for me, I suppose, because I can stay calm and just play the game. Personally, I feel better equipped this year than I was last year. As a team, we were in the first half of last season when we were playing in the Champions League.
“The manager was new in and we were building, learning what ways he wanted to play. Now we’ve started the season really well. We’re at a different stage as a team, because we know exactly what we’re doing and we’re playing well.”