Leigh Griffiths is eyeing up his first Champions League start after giving Brendan Rodgers something to think during Saturday's 6-1 drubbing of Kilmarnock.
Last season’s top goalscorer has been sidelined since the end of last month with a hamstring strain, but within minutes of taking over from Moussa Dembele he had found the net during the comprehensive victory.
Griffiths told Celtic TV that he incurred the wrath of Croatian defender Jozo Simunovic as he nicked a touch on his header to claim the goal, Celtic’s fourth of the afternoon.
Read more: Dilemmas front and back for Celtic ahead of Man City game
And as the Hoops prepare to face up to Manchester City on Wednesday night, Griffiths is ready to pick up where he left off.
“The big man was raging that I got a touch!” said the Scotland internationalist. “That is why I am there on the goalkeeper for any bits and pieces that I can help get in and it sets me up for Wednesday.”
Read more: Dilemmas front and back for Celtic ahead of Man City game
Celtic have now scored 30 goals in eight games against domestic opposition this season, with 23 of those in their six league matches.
“I have been out for a while and it is always nice to come back to a goal,” went on Griffiths. “It is not just me – the boys who are playing are always hungry for goals. Moussa, Scott [Sinclair], Tom [Rogic] and James [Forrest] were all on the scoresheet and it gives the manager a selection headache for Wednesday.
“Kilmarnock never really troubled us at the back. We scored six but it could have been more.”
Griffiths eschewed the chance to net from the spot after handing the ball to Scott Sinclair for the player to keep up his drive towards Jimmy McGrory’s long-standing goalscoring record of eight goals from his first eight league games.
“Mikael came up to me and told me about Scott and we are a team here so I had no hesitation in handing him the ball,” said the striker.
Meanwhile, James Forrest has insisted that Celtic will go into Wednesday night’s game against Manchester City looking to make it a tough 90 minutes for Pep Guardiola’s side.
The Barclays Premier League club have made a winning start to their Champions League campaign and also warmed up for this week’s game with a sound domestic win over Swansea.
Read more: Dilemmas front and back for Celtic ahead of Man City game
Forrest, one of the Celtic goalscorers on Saturday, and whose form has been re-ignited since Rodgers arrived believes that the Parkhead side will into the game with a strong game plan.
“City have started their campaign but we want to make it hard for them and make it a hard game,” he said. “We played really well from start to finish and scored a lot of goals and created a lot of chances.
“It has all been positive since pre-season and I just want to keep going.
“I was buzzing on Saturday and glad to contribute to the six goals we scored.”
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel