In February, after hitting a hat-trick against Dundee, Giorgos Giakoumakis provoked a bit of controversy with his comments about Celtic’s position in the title race and being better than Rangers.
It was reignited in the build-up to the weekend’s derby, with reporters reminding Ryan Jack of the quote.
Jack appeared wound up by it all, slamming Giakoumakis as ‘disrespectful’. However, the Greek striker had the last laugh with a fine performance at Ibrox on Sunday.
Today, asked about the reaction to those comments, Giakoumakis told a press conference [Celtic YouTube]: “I didn’t make those comments to make anyone angry or feel disrespected by me. I said what I was believing, for my team.
“We play very good football, I believe in my team. Every single player can say his team are the best, I don’t think this is bad. From now on, we have to win our games and do our job.”
The March Premiership player of the month was always entitled to give his view on the quality of Celtic and the title race. He has self-confidence. That’s what we want from our players.
I fully believe he wasn’t trying to make waves with his comments, simply giving an honest assessment.
If that upsets others then so be it. Giakoumakis was right then and he was right today.
Now the focus is on consolidating our position at the top of the table and securing the three points on Saturday. If the rest of the players have the same attitude as our Greek striker, then that should be no problem.
In other news, Positive Matt O’Riley Celtic update after hobbling off during derby.
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