Luke McCowan vows Celtic are ready for Champions League test
Despite some misgivings from supporters around the strength of the squad and the lack of summer business to date this time around, McCowan – who bagged a late winner in Sunday's Premiership opener against St Mirren - is convinced that his side will be more than prepared to show they can have another successful season in Europe's top competition.
"I'm sure we will be,' McCowan said.
'I mean if you were to ask us if we played it this midweek, I'm sure we'd all be ready. So, it makes no difference being in two weeks. If anything, I think we'll be more prepared.
'It's brilliant. The qualifiers are what you want to do. Obviously, it would be easier if you're just going straight into it.
(Image: Andrew Milligan - PA) 'But when those games come around, it's about embracing it and knowing what the challenge is going to be.
"You're coming up against opponents that aren't from here and I'm sure the boys are up for it.
"I think we showed that [we belong in the league phase] last year, it's about proving it again. There's always a demand for more at this club.
Read more:
"The more games under our belt within the season, the quicker we'll get up to speed and the performance levels will hopefully get us points on the board throughout the Champions League phases and the qualifiers, so we just need to keep performing well.
"It's an old cliche but Aberdeen next Sunday again, you hit that with a good performance, then you go into the qualifiers feeling ready, feeling up to scratch and you want to go into them as positive as you can."
Celtic will be strongly fancied to progress through the qualifying tie, with the players more than aware that crashing out of the Champions League at this stage would be viewed as a disaster for the club. But McCowan is confident they can handle that pressure.
"These players play under massive pressure all the time,' he said.
'I keep repeating it, but it's what playing at this club takes. You need to be ready for that pressure, you need to have your chest out, your head high and go and show that you're a Celtic player.
"That's what it demands and that's what a manager wants. Pressures in a game hopefully bring out your best qualities."
McCowan was delighted then that his strike against a stuffy and well organised St Mirren outfit at the weekend helped Celtic avoid getting their season off on a bum note, and he hopes that the performance level as well as the win will keep the momentum and the feelgood factor flowing going into a crucial part of the club's season, even in these early knockings of the campaign.
'Your performance levels are always the thing you look at the most,' he said.
"Even if you came away from that game at 0-0, you know your performance level was good, you know you created so many chances in the game.
(Image: Andrew Milligan - PA) "But the thing that you come away from after the game with a good performance is the three points and the boys are chuffed with that.
'It's just one of those ones, you want to create energy, you want to create positivity when you're coming off the bench and I think at the point we made the changes, they probably needed it. Some fresh legs, stuff like that, so that's what the squad's there for.
'It feels good. Good to start the season off with a win. It's always important to go off to a good start.
"It's what you're here to do. You're here to score goals and help the team win games.
"[I thought the performance was] brilliant. We had a ton of chances, we had enough chances to go and win probably two football matches. Really unlucky with a few hitting the post, obviously a goal chopped off as well.
"Listen on another day, you probably come away scoring two or three, maybe more. But at the end of the day, it's three points and that's what we're glad with.
'You have a good pre-season, you work really hard, obviously away in different countries and whatever, getting your fitness levels high. It's about coming into the game [on Sunday] and implementing that and let that carry on throughout the games to come.
"You've got Champions League qualifiers to come and it's just about the next step, the next game, the next performance. The boys know that and it's just about staying level-headed with that.
'There's always more to come. There's always a demand for more here. You could come away winning five and six-nil in games and you probably think it should be seven or eight.
"It's just what this club demands. I'm sure through each game the performances will get better and even if there are disappointments, it's how we react to that, and I'm sure we'll do just that."
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Guardian
20 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Transfer trouble and boardroom bother: vexed Newcastle face a puzzled future
'If you want to understand Newcastle you first need to understand its place in the world – that is, a very long way from anywhere. The next major city is Leeds, two hours drive to the south … London feels very far away.' If Eddie Howe can only hope his prospective signings do not stumble across the Rough Guides introduction to England's northern cities, Newcastle's manager may also reflect that it was not supposed to be like this. The days when the club's recruitment strategy was often a victim of its geographical isolation were supposed to have ended four years ago when Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund obtained the keys to St James' Park. In October 2021 there was a sense of giddiness in the Tyneside air as Amanda Staveley, the then Newcastle director and minority owner who played a key role in convincing one of the world's richest sovereign wealth funds to buy the club from Mike Ashley, settled back into a sofa at the city's leafy Jesmond Dene House hotel and spoke of soaring ambition and trophies galore. Since then a series of leading players including Alexander Isak, Sandro Tonali and Bruno Guimarães have signed for Newcastle, Howe's team are in the Champions League for the second time in three years and are the holders of the Carabao Cup, their first domestic trophy for 70 years. Rather less positively, Isak is doing his utmost to force through a move to Liverpool, a slew of big names have turned Howe down in favour of relocating to London or Manchester this summer and Newcastle are seeking their third sporting director and second chief executive in three years. Oh and Staveley and her husband, Mehrdad Ghodoussi, are no longer around, after being ousted in a boardroom power struggle early last summer. Staveley subsequently spoke of her 'heartbreak' and 'devastation' at that departure, insisting rumours of a planned exit were 'absolute rubbish'. Thirteen months on, Newcastle's chair, Yasir al-Rumayyan, and the rest of the Riyadh-based Saudi ownership are perhaps realising that maybe she was more important to their Geordie project than they realised. Arguably almost everything that has subsequently gone wrong seems rooted in that parting of the ways. Crucially, Staveley and Ghodoussi were excellent communicators within a club where, at assorted levels, personal connections have since loosened and the Saudi ownership remain so remote that no representative of PIF has spoken to the UK football media. In contrast Staveley was big on the human touch, taking time to stop and chat to players, staff and, occasionally, reporters while also sending first-teamers regular text messages as she established rare trust with the instinctively wary Howe. Maybe Staveley sometimes over-promised. Isak's representatives certainly believe the striker was assured his £150,000-a-week wages would be boosted significantly last summer and the fallout is hurting Howe now. Yet given that Newcastle only narrowly avoided a potential points deduction and heavy fine after scrambling to comply with Premier League spending rules within hours of a key deadline last June, the club's decision to tell Isak he would have to be content with his current deal after all represented financial logic. Howe's problem was that a striker who would proceed to score 27 goals last season remained seriously annoyed. Indeed Isak, along with certain similarly sulky teammates, started the campaign badly and it took the manager's considerable man-management skills to talk them round. It did not go unnoticed that, after the Carabao Cup triumph, Isak's body language turned uninterested again. Even so, the Swede had three years on his contract and there was a – misplaced – sense that a supposedly 'laid-back' character would not 'rock the boat', let alone skip a pre-season tour of south east Asia, particularly as he was poised to be offered an improved contract this summer. Instead Liverpool's interest turned the head of a striker said to be disappointed that there is still no sign of a much-vaunted new training ground at a club where a long-awaited, and much-delayed, decision as to whether Newcastle will revamp St James' Park or build a new stadium has again been postponed. Sign up to Football Daily Kick off your evenings with the Guardian's take on the world of football after newsletter promotion At a time when, given the constraints of profitability and sustainability rules, the art of selling is just as important as buying players, moving Isak to Liverpool for £120m-plus this month makes sense, permitting Howe to restock a talented but slender squad. The real puzzle is the lack of honest springtime conversations with Isak that might have allowed Newcastle to force an auction involving Liverpool, Arsenal et al before using their handsome profit to source an elite replacement. Instead Liam Delap, João Pedro, Hugo Ekitiké and now, perhaps, Benjamin Sesko have slipped through the net, preferring to move to London or Manchester. Newcastle, though, is not exactly Siberia and might have proved an easier sell had the Saudis swiftly appointed a successor to Darren Eales, who announced his resignation as chief executive 11 months ago after a blood cancer diagnosis. Eales finally seems poised to be replaced by the Canadian former Real Madrid executive David Hopkinson, but Paul Mitchell's abrupt departure 'by mutual consent', announced in late May, dictates that Newcastle have spent the transfer window without a sporting director. Mitchell, who succeeded Dan Ashworth last July, left without signing a player after kicking off his tenure by declaring that the transfer strategy was 'unfit for purpose' and the manager needed 'to evolve'. An uneasy truce with Howe eventually ensued but, less than 24 hours after Mitchell and the manager met Rumayyan for a post-season planning summit, his impending exit was announced. Throw in the enduring silence from Saudi Arabia and it is easy to understand why a footballer's agent might tell his client that, although Howe is clearly a brilliant coach, Newcastle look a bit dysfunctional right now. Geography may no longer be the main reason why top players steer clear of Tyneside.
The National
32 minutes ago
- The National
James Tavernier & Nicolas Raskin Rangers benching addressed
The Gers head coach named four changes to his starting line-up for tonight's Champions League qualifier against Viktoria Plzen from the 1-1 draw at Motherwell on Saturday evening. Among the headline calls was the omissions of both James Tavernier and Nicolas Raskin, who were dropped to the bench. Oliver Antman was immediately drafted in for his debut, meanwhile, Cyriel Dessers was assigned to lead the line. "They're all big decisions," he told BBC Scotland when asked about leaving Tavernier on the bench pre-match. "It's the toughest job in the world as a manager to leave people out regardless of who they are. "One decision is not tougher than the other. They're all tough calls. Hopefully, we've made the right ones." Read more: He added: "Just for freshness and energy in the team, and also for balance. "It's the best team to start the game, and then we have some really good options on the bench. "I'm excited to see what this group is going to put out, and I'm looking forward to it. "The club's done brilliantly to get Oliver [Antman] done and registered on time. It was always the plan to play him. "He's ready, he's had some minutes in pre season and he's a natural athlete."
Scottish Sun
an hour ago
- Scottish Sun
Jose Mourinho wipes away tears as he pays heartbreaking tribute to Porto's Champions League-winning captain Jorge Costa
Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) JOSE MOURINHO has paid a heartfelt tribute to the late Jorge Costa following the news of his tragic death. Costa, a Porto legend and former Charlton star, died of a cardiac arrest at the age of 53 in Portugal on Tuesday. 4 Jorge Costa died of a cardiac arrest at the age of 53 Credit: EPA 4 Jose Mourinho wiped away tears as he spoke about his old Porto player 4 Mourinho said he would cry 'after doing job' because that's what Costa would want Credit: Shutterstock Editorial 4 Mourinho called him a leader not a captain Credit: Action Images He had fallen ill in the morning before he was rushed to Sao Joao hospital in a serious condition, but nothing could be done to save his life. The former defender - nicknamed "Tanque" (Tank) and "Bicho" (animal) by his team-mates for his aggressive style of defending - was the captain of Mourinho's Porto team when they won the Champions League in 2004. Mourinho, who now manages Turkish side Fenerbahce, was asked about his former player during a press conference before his side take on Feyenoord in a Champions League qualifier. The 62-year-old was visibly emotional when speaking about Costa, and was seen wiping tears away as he paid tribute to his late captain. Choking back tears, Mourinho said: "It's part of my history that goes." Asked about a 2022 interview where Mourinho said he was not a captain but a leader, he continued: "It's not always about the armband but what you represent. "And Jorge was one of these guys who cleaned the garbage and let the coach do his job. "That's perfection for a coach when his captain does this work. Of course, I'm very sad it's part of my history that goes. "But let's forget football, let's focus on him, on Jorge, on his kids, who I met when they were really kids. "And I'm here now because if he could speak with me now he would tell me, come on, do your press conference. And he would say tomorrow play the game, win the game and forget about me. Jose Mourinho explains the difference between a captain and a leader, using Jorge Costa as an example "So that's what I'm going to try and do, do my job today, do my job tomorrow and then cry after. "But today and tomorrow I have a job to do and I know Jorge would tell me to do my job." The former Chelsea and Manchester United boss recalled a story about his former star, explaining how when the team was losing at half-time, Costa had "done the dirty work" by laying into the team to save a fuming Mourinho from having to do the same. He explained how Costa told him to wait outside, before opening the door after a couple of moments and saying to the manager "coach us", with Porto winning the game 3-2 thanks to Costa scoring two goals. Costa starred at Porto across a 15-year spell, winning eight league titles, as well as winning the Uefa Cup, Intercontinental Cup, five Taca de Portugal trophies and eight Super Cups. He was also a key figure of the Portuguese National Team, earning 50 caps for the senior team and winning the Portuguese Golden Ball in 2000. Following a decorated playing career which involved spells at Penafiel, Maritimo and the Addicks on loan and a one-year stint at Standard Liege, Costa moved into coaching in 2006. He started out as an assistant at Braga before taking on the full job as manager in 2007. But Costa would go on to have an extraordinary journeyman career as a boss. Costa had a number of jobs ranging from his homeland of Portugal to Tunisia, India, Romania and France. The Porto legend eventually returned to the club in 2024 to work as a director of football. He suffered a similar health problem in 2022 when he was admitted to Santa Cruz hospital before undergoing surgery and eventually recovering. But news of his death has left the world of football in mourning. Former clubs Porto, Braga, Charlton all paid tribute to him, as well as old rival Sporting Lisbon. Cristiano Ronaldo paid tribute on his Instagram page by sharing a picture of the defender with a black and white filter with the caption: "Ate sempre Jorge Costa", meaning "until forever". Meanwhile, ex-Portugal international and 1987 Ballon d'Or runner up Paulo Futre wrote: "Hard to believe. What devastating news. A truly sad day for Portuguese football. "My most sincere condolences to Jorge Costa's family. Forever, friend. Rest in peace."
