James Forrest insists he and his Celtic teammates will be avoiding any thoughts of Lazio when they take on Hibernian at Hampden on Saturday.
Neil Lennon’s men face three big matches before club football breaks once again for the internationals in mid-November. The Hoops travel to the National Stadium for Saturday’s Betfred Cup semi-final before taking on Lazio in Rome and then rounding off the week with a tricky looking clash against high-flying Motherwell.
But despite recording four consecutive wins Forrest insists that the team won’t be getting carried away with themselves.
“With Celtic there are so many big games,” the 28-year-old told the club’s official website. “We have the semi-final on Saturday, a Europa League game next week and we can’t afford to slip up in the league either, so that’s good and we want to be involved in the big games and contribute to the team. Hopefully I can do that on Saturday and we can get a positive result.
“I don’t think any of us will be thinking about Lazio. The main one is Saturday now and making sure we get into the final.
“We’ve had some good performances at Hampden over the last couple of years, so the boys will go in with a lot of confidence. Hopefully I can add to that and get the team into the final.”
Forrest is right to downplay Lazio fixture
Of course Forrest is never going to come out publicly and say that the team are concerned by another fixture, but you do wonder if it will be on their mind when they take to the pitch at Hampden.
The games preceding Europa League clashes aren’t too precarious in the fact that they come well in advance. For example, Celtic will take on Hibernian on Saturday evening over five days before they’re due at the Stadio Olimpico.
That gives players the time they need to recover after putting their all into the semi-final clash.
The bigger problem is the match that comes after a European excursion – especially when it’s away from home. Lennon and co will just have to cross that bridge when they come to it late next week.
For now it is all about the next game, and only that one.
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