FILIAM SCALES offered an interesting take on his opening goal in Celtic’s pulverising 5-1 Champions League triumph over Slovan Bratislava at Parkhead last night.
The no-nonsense defender didn’t waste any time on today’s jargon when he summed up the moment he diverted in Arne Engels’ left-wing corner-kick delivery to get the ball rolling on another memorable evening under the lights in the east end of Glasgow.
Scales explained: “For my goal, the ball was perfect from Arne. He’s put it right in the area we were told to attack, so all I had to do was stick my big head on it and, hopefully, it would go in. And it did!
“I’ve met it well and I’m happy it went in.”
HEAD BHOY…Liam Scales rises to power in the opening goal against Slovan Bratislava from the left-wing corner-kick delivery from Arne Engels in the background.
The Republic of Ireland international defender picked up the Man of the Match award for his overall contribution to a crucial win at the start of the campaign in the new-look set-up in Europe’s elite competition.
Scales, speaking to Celtic TV, continued: “It was a brilliant three points. That’s what we really wanted and we wanted to start off the campaign like that.
‘The performance and scoreline were both brilliant. So, it’s all positives and we’re really happy.
“And the atmosphere was amazing. I experienced it last year, but it keeps getting better.
“It gave us the motivation to do what we did and I think that once we played ourselves into the game, the fans got behind us every second and I thought it was brilliant.”
On his top performer accolade, Scales added: “Obviously, the team comes first, but, on a personal level, it’s lovely to win that and I just want to keep going the way I’m going.
“We have to recover now and get ready for the game against Falkirk.
THE PERFECT END…Adam Idah slides in No.5 as he joins his fellow Republic of Ireland internatiional Liam Scales on the scoresheet.
“We know it’s a different challenge and we’ll have played three competitions in a week, so, hopefully, we can get the three wins. That’s the plan.”
Scales’ thumping 17th-minute header opened the way for a second-half onslaught on the Slovaks’ goal and Kyogo Furuhashi, Engels (pen), Daizen Maeda and Adam Idah joined the scoring stakes.
Now Championship side Falkirk provide the opposition in the Premier Sports League Cup quarter-final at the same venue on Sunday afternoon.
Different game, different tournament, different atmosphere, but Scales and Co will be aiming for a similar outcome.
FIVE-STAR HOOPS’ EURO ROMP
Click Here for Comments >
