The Scotsman Football Show - Celtic v Aston Villa preview
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00:00Hello and welcome to this episode of the Scotsman football show. My name is Mark Atkinson, sports
00:08editor. I'm joined today by our chief football correspondent, Alan Pattullo. Alan, we're
00:13going to talk about the game tomorrow night in the Champions League, Aston Villa against
00:17Celtic, Battle of Britain Part 2. This month, you were down at Old Trafford for Manchester
00:23against the Rangers on Thursday. Obviously, the Scottish team came out on the wrong side
00:28of the result then. What do you expect tomorrow night in what's quite an intriguing Champions
00:35League match with potentially more on the line for the home team?
00:38Yes, it's not quite got the edge that so-called Battles of Britain often have, including last
00:51Thursday night at Old Trafford. There's a bit more on the line. I think both clubs are
00:55pretty optimistic they've qualified. Both Celtic and Aston Villa have qualified for
00:59the next phase. It's just a matter of the possibilities there for Villa, obviously,
01:05to gain automatic entry and finish in the top eight. Celtic have got a very outside
01:10chance of doing that as well. But yes, still a game, I think, full of intrigue. I think
01:17we spoke earlier off camera as well, Mark, in terms of Brendan Rodgers returning to English
01:23football. I'm sure he feels he has a point to prove still to the wider British football
01:31public, having been sacked at Leicester City. I was looking back and I think in that final
01:38season at Leicester, he managed to pull off a 4-2 win at Villa Park against Villa a few
01:45months before he was unceremoniously let go by Leicester City. So, yes, he's obviously
01:52got some good memories of Villa Park and I'm sure he'll be relishing and savouring
01:57the prospect of going there with a Celtic team and showing what they can do. Although,
02:02albeit a Celtic team that's possibly a bit more toothless than they were seven days ago
02:08with the loss of Keogh.
02:10Absolutely. It's going to be fascinating to watch a Celtic team in this arena without
02:15Keogh Farahash leading the line. Three and a half years he's been Celtic's main striker
02:19and of course Dyson Maida is suspended as well, which means that Celtic are without
02:24two of the three-pronged forward line that's been so devastating domestically and pretty
02:29impressive on the continental front. What is a reasonable expectation of Celtic in this
02:36match, Alan? Obviously, the weekend off, the storm denying, that's the game between Celtic
02:41and Dundee. Probably no bad thing for Celtic given what happened midweek and what was going
02:45on with Keogh. This is, of course, the Scottish champions against one of the top four teams
02:51of last season in England. Should Celtic go down there with the expectation level of winning
02:56that game or do we have to accept that Aston Villa are probably a better resource and stronger
03:02unit than our champions?
03:03Well, I think we probably do have to accept that in terms of Villa's financial might compared
03:11to a Scottish club, even a Scottish club the size of Celtic. So, I think it would be
03:19foolhardy to expect Celtic to go down there and pull off a victory. I'm sure they could
03:24and they may possibly do that, but I think a good result would be a draw. I mean, if
03:29they can get a draw, that would be fantastic. Let's remember that Rangers were very close
03:33to pulling that off just a few days ago at Old Trafford and a few people gave Rangers
03:39a chance, particularly not the Rangers team that emerged for the second half down at Old
03:45Trafford as a team including two teenagers. So, yeah, I think it's reasonable to expect
03:52Celtic to possibly pull off a draw and who knows if everything goes right in the night,
04:00perhaps even a win, but fascinating. Lots of subplots, isn't it, with John McGinn, I
04:05can see, back available and he'll be rearing to go in midfield against a team he supported
04:13as a boy and Auston McPhee on the other side of the fence, a set-piece coach, obviously
04:19another Scot. So, yeah, it'll be intriguing and obviously a big Celtic following, I think
04:27they've got 2,000 or so fans. Tickets have been sold to Celtic though, again, like last
04:33week at Old Trafford, interesting to see whether Celtic fans, I'm sure they'll find
04:38ways and means to get into other areas of the ground.
04:42Villapark, Al, is this your first trip to Villapark?
04:44No, I was actually just reflecting on this actually earlier, thinking what are my experiences
04:50there. My first experience sitting or standing in the Holt End, as we all were, Euro 96,
04:57at the end where Ali McCoy thrashed in his winner against Switzerland. I was there just
05:04as a fan that night, very memorable. And I also was at Villapark, equally memorably,
05:13for Ryan Giggs scoring his wonder goal in 1999 in the FA Cup semi-final replay against
05:18Arsenal. I was down working in my first couple of years here at the Scotsman, which was...
05:26Which goal was better, Al? Ryan Giggs or Ali McCoy's?
05:29I can remember Ali McCoy's winner most vividly, possibly because I was right behind the goal
05:38and I can still see it flying into the top corner. So, yeah, I'll go with the McCoy's
05:44goal, although obviously the Giggs one has gone into absolute folklore, hasn't it? Remember
05:50the best goals of all time, or certainly the best goals of all time in British football
05:54that are discussed, that's always high up there, isn't it?
05:56Oh, yeah, the wonderful celebration as well, the top-off shirt being twirled over the head,
06:02an incredible goal that was.
06:03I always mean to go back and look at my match report from that night and I hope I gave it
06:08the description it deserved, although I do fear possibly not, given it came so late in
06:15the game and I'm sure deadlines were an issue. But, yeah, I may have a peek back after this
06:21and see how I covered that game.
06:25Absolutely. It's one of those great British iconic stadiums, isn't it, Villapark? It's
06:30one that I think has really stood the sands of time. Whenever I watch a game on TV, I
06:34often think how great the atmosphere is. It's a nice, compact stadium. It's going to be
06:39a lively old place tomorrow.
06:41Yeah, it will be. It will be, as you say, one of the great grounds. Again, we talked
06:46of Scottish themes, one of the great grounds of Archibald Leitch, the great, famed Scottish
06:53architect who had a hand in so many of these iconic football stadiums and Villapark being
06:59one of them. I was just looking back too, I think four of their first six managers were
07:04Scots and there's a real line rampant on the club badge as well. So, yeah, so many themes
07:13to this game tomorrow night. I'm really thoroughly looking forward to it.
07:17You mentioned John McGinn. It's worth touching upon McGinn. He's not played, he's not started
07:21for Villa since the 4th of January, picked up a hamstring injury. Not the first time
07:25he's picked up a muscle injury in the last year at Villa. And he came off the bench to
07:31play on Sunday against West Ham. It's really important from a Scotland perspective that
07:35we have John McGinn back playing at the peak of his powers.
07:39Oh, yeah. This is somebody we're talking about, possibly, potentially overtaking
07:47Denis Law and Kenny Dalglish in terms of the record goalscorer for Scotland. I was looking,
07:52I think he's on 20 as it stands. Obviously, the total to beat is 30. Denis Law being obviously
07:58very high in our thoughts just now, given that he passed away just a week or so ago.
08:04So, yeah, I mean, John McGinn, I think he's got 10 more goals to get. Could he do that
08:09in the next couple of years, potentially, next two or three years? And that would put
08:14him out on his own in terms of great Scotland players. So, yeah, great to have him back.
08:21And such a big 12 months for Scotland coming up now, obviously, with the World Cup qualifying.
08:28I think I saw somewhere it was at 500 days until the World Cup begins. So, we're in
08:33countdown mode already. Absolutely central to that. 500 days. Well, let's hope Scotland
08:41are there. It's incredible how quickly these tournaments come around. Let's hope Scotland
08:44are there. But in the short term, Aston Villa, Celtic. Aston Villa need to win to get into
08:48the top eight Celtics chances. Less than likely. Alan, you're heading down to Birmingham. I'm
08:53going to let you finish off your preview, which I know is a bit different to what an
08:59Owen preview will be like with plenty of history and themes and the links between Celtic and
09:03Aston Villa. And then we'll have all the coverage from Villa Park Wednesday night scheme.
09:08Alan's words and reaction analysis from there. Thank you for joining us.
09:11We'll have it all on scotsman.co.uk in the paper for myself and Alan. It's goodbye for now.
09:16Thanks, Mark.