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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.

The Scotsman Football Show - Celtic v Aston Villa preview

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