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An Astana style performance – and result – is needed this evening and it will be most welcome…

Only a few hours remain until we kick off against Kairat at Paradise in the UEFA Champions league playoff, and despite our transfer window frustrations with the Celtic Board, there’s nevertheless great optimism we will do what’s required to secure an emphatic victory to take over to Almaty for the conclusion of the tie next Tuesday, in a match that we’ll be watching on Amazon Prime.

A win of course is the most important thing, whether that is 1-0 or 2-1, it will suffice as it’s something to play for in the far reaches of Kazakstan. However the Celtic support is expecting a bigger margin of victory his evening and I noticed Lubo98 writing on The Celtic Star earlier today went for a 5-0 Celtic victory. Fo me I think that a 3-0 win will be more than enough to put any real worries for next week to one side.

But a similar scoreline to that of our last game at Celtic park against Kazakh opponents would be even better and that of course was a thumping 5-0 win over Kairat’s current title rivals Astana who were blown away by Brendan Rodgers Celtic side back in 2017.

A brace from Scott Sinclair, a solitary James Forrest strike, and two own goals were seen as enough to advance even though we had a second leg to negotiate over in Kazakhstan. James Forrest always seen to score against Kazakhstan sides and maybe he’ll fancy doing it again tonight

That would prove to be the case despite at one point going 4-1 down at one stage we pulled back two goals to lose 4-3 on the night but qualified for the group stages by the comfortable aggregate score of 8-4, or as one section of the SMSM put it ‘scraped through’.

Another avalanche of goals would be most welcome tonight as Kairat will prove a tough opponent on their own patch. Travel will be a factor tonight for the visitors with the roles reversed on Tuesday. But something that Kairat won’t have and will never have experienced is the atmosphere at Celtic Park on a big European night. The Celtic support can lift our own players and can also terrify the opposition would something are like rabbits in the headlights when the Celtic noise is at its loudest.

So the players have their part to play but so do the players, so tonight let’s make SOME NOISE FOR THE BHOYS.

COYBIG

CELTIC IN THE EIGHTIES BY DAVID POTTER, FOREWORD BY DANNY McGRAIN is published by Celtic Star Books on the fifth day of September. You can pre-order now to guarantee your copy which will be signed by Danny McGrain, while stocks last. We have LESS THAN FIFTY signed copies remaining of the ones Danny will sign next week.

And there’s another great benefit for readers who pre-order their copy of Celtic in the Eighties. You will also receive a copy of an earlier David Potter book – Celtic’ Icicle – Alec McNair – which you’ll receive for FREE when you pre-order with Celtic in the Eighties.

So you get two great Celtic books by David Potter and better still the postage is only charged on one. Click on the image below to order. (Just order Celtic in the Eighties and we’ll automatically add a copy of the Alec McNair book to your order). This offer is only available for pre-ordered copies sold via Celtic Star Books.

This article first appeared on The Celtic Star and was syndicated with permission.

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