Matt O’Riley clearly explains to Brighton fans the ‘unimaginable’ pressure of playing for Celtic

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Matt O’Riley continues his Celtic love-in as he takes in his first-ever interview on Brighton’s podcast media channel.

The former Celtic midfielder hit the headlines this weekend after O’Riley scored Brighton’s winning goal against Man City in his Premier League debut.

O’Riley picked up an injury in the Carabao Cup against Crawley Town, and the £25m man had to wait for his first Brighton outing in England’s top flight and boy, he didn’t disappoint.

But here, O’Riley still talks so passionately about Celtic and the fans as he explains clearly to the Brighton supporters exactly how hard it is to play for the current Scottish champions.

Matt O’Riley tells Brighton fans ‘it’s not easy’ playing for Celtic

O’Riley told The Official Brighton and Hove Albion podcast, “I think respectfully, the pressures of playing at Celtic are, for most people, unimaginable. It’s not easy to win every game of football, regardless of who you’re playing against.

“If you’ve got 11 men behind the ball who are well organized, sometimes it’s tough to score. And the longer the game goes on, the anxiety builds up in the crowd. You need to learn to be able to, again, accept that.

“But also just somehow block it out and stay focused. And to do that every single game is really tiring, you know, like mentally and physically to sustain it as well.”

Matt O’Riley names two ‘relentless’ Celtic heroes he has ‘so much respect for’

“It’s like anyone who’s able to play at Celtic for such a long time,” continues O’Riley, “Like people who are there, like James Forrest, Callum McGregor, to have that kind of relentless mentality of, okay, we’ve got to do it again, we’ve got to do it again, we’ve got to do it.

“It’s genuinely tiring. And I have so much respect for them for being able to do it at such a high level consistently over 60 games a season.”

O’Riley was an immensely popular player amongst the Celtic squad and the fans and much of the Hoops support still follow his career closely at Brighton.

Without a doubt, one of the most talented midfielders to grace the Celtic Park turf, O’Riley produced some stunning and memorable moments that fans still talk about to this day.

Now back to full fitness, 67 Hail Hail wishes O’Riley the very best at Brighton and hopefully look forward to seeing some more moments of magic from our former great Dane.