NIR Bitton believes Celtic can get a result against Paris Saint-Germain in France on Wednesday night and possibly book a place in the Europa League knockout rounds – if they can eradicate defensive errors from their play.
Bitton is set to be given the nod to play at centre-half in the Champions League clash at the Parc des Princes after helping Brendan Rodgers’ side keep a clean sheet in the 1-0 win over Ross County on Saturday.
The Israeli said: “We will be playing against maybe the best front three in the world right now. But you just need to face it and enjoy it as much as you can. Everybody knows PSG are better than Celtic, but we need to compete and show we deserve to play at this level.
“When you play against Neymar, Mbappe, Cavani – it doesn’t matter who plays there – you need to make no mistakes and compete. If we do that hopefully Wednesday will be different from our home game.”
Meanwhile, Leigh Griffiths’ stunning free-kick winner against Ross County on Saturday continued Celtic’s domestic dominance but he acknowledged a much tougher task lies ahead in midweek.
The Scotland striker came off the bench in the second half at the Global Energy Stadium as the Brendan Rodgers’ side struggled to break down a resolute home defence.
Griffiths his shot from 30 yards in the 78th minute gave the visitors a 1-0 Ladbrokes Premiership win that extended Celtic’s unbeaten run in Scotland to 64 games and took them six points clear of Aberdeen.
However, Griffiths hopes Celtic can put on a better show in the Champions League on Wednesday. They visit Paris Saint-Germain, who won 5-0 when they visited Parkhead in September.
Griffiths said: “They are favourites to win the competition and rightly so. They have been on fire. After they beat us, they went and beat Bayern Munich 3-0.
“We know how hard it is going to be but that is why we are in this competition, we want to go and compete against the best and if we get beaten, we get beaten and we will take it on the chin. But we look to try to get results.”
Griffiths returned to action after recovering from a calf injury and finds himself once more in a fight for a starting place with Moussa Dembele, who scored a 12-minute hat-trick for France Under-21s earlier in the week.
Griffiths said: “It shows how hard Moussa has worked to get back fit. If I hadn’t been injured last week maybe I would have got a goal or two then.
“We have a big week. The manager will take into consideration we have the Betfred Cup final against Motherwell at the end of the week so it will be a difficult choice for him to make. But anyone who starts the game will more than deserve to play.”
County boss Owen Coyle took encouragement from his side’s performance against the league leaders.
He said: “Nobody enjoys losing games but that group of players gave everything and if they continue to do that – you don’t play against Glasgow Celtic every week – there are going to be a lot of points available to us.
“We need to make sure we get to the same standard we got to on Saturday.”
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