Max Johnston has warned Celtic they’ll need to snuff out Christos Tzolis because he has the firepower to help Club Brugge blow a major hole in their Champions League dreams.
The former Motherwell player saw the Belgians go to Sturm Graz in Austria and claim a gutsy win in the second game last month, 1-0 thanks to a stunning Tzolis strike. Tzolis also scored four goals at the weekend in his side’s 7-0 thumping of Sint-Truiden. Club Brugge now head to Celtic Park but if Brendan Rodgers could get the win then it would put them in a strong position to, at least, get into the play-off round.
Johnston said: “Club Brugge are a good team. They beat us 1-0 in Graz in the second game. They are a well-drilled and organised side. Their game is based on possession. They like to keep the ball and to dictate the tempo. They like to pass it about and get the ball wide and create the overloads up the sides.
“They are a bit like Celtic who like to dominate the ball domestically and then get the ball wide for their wingers or their full-backs to come inside. They also have a lot of talented players who can also make things happen in the final third.
“They’ve got quality players in attacking areas, which can produce a bit of magic. You only had to look at the quality of their winning goal against us from Tzolis. It was some strike.”
Johnston expects Brugge to try to keep the ball. He doesn’t expect them to hit on the counter, rather it’ll be a fight between two teams who like to make things happen. The Scotland U21 cap said: “Club Brugge playing Celtic should be a really interesting game. It is a hard one to call.
“It will be interesting to see what happens because Celtic are just a point ahead of Club Brugge in the table. Celtic have been really strong at home and they also got a good result away to Atalanta.
“They have beaten Leipzig and Slovan Bratislava and will fancy their chances of beating Brugge but will need to play well to do so.”