Riga assistant manager Mihails Konevs has been previewing his side’s mammoth meeting with Celtic tonight.
The Latvians will face their biggest ever European challenge in tomorrow’s Europa League third qualifying round tie. However, there is some extra buzz around the fact that it’s a one-legged play-off, with no Parkhead safety net available to the Hoops.
That’s a massive boost for Riga, who have never been beaten at home in European competition. Indeed, Celtic need to do a European first tomorrow night to seal progression to the playoff round.
However, the size of the task is not lost on Konevs this evening. He believes that his side will have to give even more than 100% effort in order to progress
As quoted by Latvian source Apollo, Konevs said: “Celtic is a European club that Riga has not played against before. Even bigger than Copenhagen I think, who we played last year (and won 1-0 at home).
“We have researched the opponent. The team is versatile, strong on all lines, plays well with the ball. We are physically strong and good in standard situations. It’s clear that our opponents will not let us play the way we do in the Premier League – there will be pressing and active play.
“We will have to give not 100%, but more than that. Last year’s game with Copenhagen proved that we can play against teams of this level. We have not lost any Euro games at Skonto Stadium – everything is in our own hands. By giving all of our strength, we can fight for the opportunity to move on.”
Flattery has too often been followed by embarrassment
These are kind words from Konevs – but we’re used to that in European ties, particularly in qualifiers.
However, at the same time, how often have we heard generous words from the opposition only to be lulled into a false sense of security?
We only need to go back to last season. Cluj boss Dan Petrescu claimed he got “scared” watching Celtic and said that playing against us was like playing against Barcelona (GSP). Cluj would then knock us out of the Champions League qualifiers and score four goals at Parkhead.
What happened there should be deemed our biggest lesson in not taking an opponent seriously or being sucked into mind-games. Granted, there’s nothing so methodical about Konevs’ comments here, but it’s yet more flattery.
It’s time we started showing lesser clubs in Europe exactly why we’re such a world-renowned club and why we should be a team to fear for sides like Riga.
Hopefully, we’ve learned our lesson from last season and indeed against Ferencvaros earlier this summer. No more mistakes and no more complacency Celtic.
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