Moscow hero now wants to be Hearts breaker
GEORGIOS Samaras was Celtic’s hero in Moscow yet again as he headed home a last-minute goal to beat Spartak 3-2 in the Champions League. Three years ago, he conjured up another moment of Moscow magic to help Celtic knock Dinamo out of the Champions League qualifying round.
The Greek internationalist certainly enjoys his trips to Russia, and he proved once more just how valuable he is to the team. The bigger the stage, the better he performs.
And as one of the few Celtic players with previous experience of playing in the competition, he’s relishing the opportunity to face some of Europe’s top sides.
"We are already successful because we have reached our target," he told this week’s Celtic View. "Our target was to reach the group stages of the Champions League and we did that by beating two really good teams in Helsinki and Helsingborgs.
"Benfica and Barcelona play in the Champions League every year and Spartak Moscow are in it most years, so it is not easy, but we have the chance to be competitive now and we want to win the games.
"All games are 50/50, so if we take our chances, you never know what will happen in football. It will be difficult to beat Barcelona or to get a draw with them but even if that doesn’t happen we will fight for second position.
"And if that doesn’t come then we mustn’t forget that third position gets you into the Europa League. It is so good to have European football and even better to have it after Christmas."
Now, having been successful in the Russian capital, Samaras is now turning his attention to a team from the Scottish capital. Celtic play host to Hearts this Sunday, October 7 and the Hoops are determined to keep their impressive form going.
"Hearts are always a difficult team," Samaras said. "We always have to be careful when we play them even though they haven’t had a good start to the season.
"We have also struggled at times so we have to be careful. Our minds have been on European games so we know we haven’t started our season well. We need to find our form in the SPL and build on our momentum."
Wir haben einen Lauf und den mĂĽssen wir gegen die Hearts fortsetzen.
Forster
Lustig Wilson Ambrose Emilio
Forrest Wanyama Brown Commons
Hooper Samaras
Vielleicht bekommt Brown eine Pause, dann Ledley spielen lassen. Ausser Lassad und Stokes dĂĽrften alle mit dabei sein.