Auston Trusty has issued Aberdeen with a Hampden warning as he insisted Celtic won’t let the red-hot Dons off the hook again.
The Premiership pace-settlers square up at the National Stadium in tomorrow’s Premier Sports Cup semi-final showdown – just weeks after their the side’s scraped out a thrilling 2-2 draw at Celtic Park. Brendan Rodgers’ side were two up against Jimmy Thelin’s on-fire outfit but got hauled back and had to settle for a point.
Trusty insisted the Hoops have learned their lesson and won’t drop their guards against an Aberdeen team riding high after rolling over Rangers at Pittodrie on Wednesday. When asked what he’ll take from the first clash between the rivals, American ace Trusty said: “To seal the deal. When you are up 2-0 then you want to seal the deal in the game.
“We’ll go in to this game very confident. But if we are in that position again then seal the deal. We approach every game as a challenge so that is going to be the mindset again.
“We don’t take any game easy or lightly. That is about respecting our opponent. But it doesn’t matter who we are playing, we want to go out there and play our game. If we do that, the game takes care of itself. You focus on who you are playing against, but you also really focus on within.”
Celtic have made Hampden their second home in recent years but Trusty is looking forward to his first experience of the home of Scottish football.
He said: “I haven’t played there so it will be pretty special for me. Every stadium is a new experience for me here. I am exited for it. I haven’t seen clips of Hampden yet but I’m sure I’ll see some before the game.”
Trusty is hoping to get the nod for Hampden but there’s a scrap for places at the back with Cameron Carter-Vickers back in the team following a spell out getting treatment on a foot injury.
Rodgers is also set to be boosted by the return of captain Callum McGregor, along with Nicolas Kuhn and Adam Idah – who had feared a long lay of following a nasty challenge in the win at Fir Park last weekend.
The Hoops boss insisted his squad will be raring to go after taking the chance to rest some of his big guns in the Dundee victory.
Rodgers said: “It was important to make those changes, otherwise with the guys playing so many games, you lose that energy.
“Especially in our next two games in particular which are going to be really intense games both physically and mentally. We’ve come through this period really well and we move on to the next one.
“Aberdeen have made a really good start to the season and they be very happy to win the other night. But we have been playing really well this season, scoring goals and being secure defensively. We want to keep that going.”