SCOTT Brown last night confessed he should have declared himself unfit in the Scottish Cup semi-final that Celtic lost to Rangers last season as he looked ahead to another last four tie against the Ibrox club this weekend.
Brown was desperately disappointing in the penalty shoot-out defeat that Ronny Deila’s side suffered against Mark Warburton’s team in the national knockout competition at Hampden back in April.
The Celtic midfielder and captain was ridiculed on social media and internet message boards after the reverse, which led to Deila standing down as manager, because he had attempted to stare out his opposite number Andy Halliday, who enjoyed an excellent game, before kick-off.
Read more: Scott Brown: Rangers will perform better against Celtic in semi-final without Joey Barton
However, the 31-year-old, who has been a man reborn this term after enjoying the longest summer break of his professional career, has admitted he would have been better off sitting out the fixture as he looked ahead to the Betfred Cup semi-final this Sunday.
“I think it’s the Scottish mentality,” he said. “Every Scottish player, if you gave them the opportunity to play in a Rangers v Celtic semi-final, would bite your hand off for it. If someone says to me ‘are you fit to play’ I’m always there to play for anyone. But, looking back, maybe I shouldn’t have.
“What percentage was I fit? I don’t know. It was just aches and pains, coming back too early from injuries and trying to pull through.
“Not being 100 per cent fit and playing in Rangers v Celtic games is always hard for anybody. You always say you can get through the one game, but you need that proper match fitness, sharpness and training.
“No one tried to persuade me against playing. If any player says they are good to go the manager puts faith and trust in you.”
Read more: Scott Brown: Rangers will perform better against Celtic in semi-final without Joey Barton
Brown added: “Now I can run again. I feel back to my old self again. I can get about the park for 90 minutes. That’s not a problem. There are no little aches or pains any more. I just need to continue doing what I’m doing just now. It’s been good under the gaffer. Training has been harder and fitness levels have gone through the roof yet again.”
Celtic were outplayed by a superior Borussia Moenchengladbach side in their third Champions League group game of the season at Parkhead on Wednesday night and could have no complaints about being beaten 2-0.
Much was made of the extensive injury list which the Bundesliga club had before the Group C match, but Brown, whose side is now bottom of their section after the home defeat, felt they were a quality outfit.
He believes that Brendan Rodgers’s side must learn lessons from how Andre Schubert’s impressive team acquitted themselves in the tie. But he is confident they can improve as a result of the experience.
“Going over to Germany is going to be extremely hard,” he said. “But now we know the way they play we can maybe set up a little differently and we can maybe close them down a little better. We can maybe try and keep the ball higher up the park at their end a little better as well.
“Everyone knew as soon as the group was announced it was always going to be hard. But that’s why we are in the Champions League. We have to compete. We have managed to compete with Manchester City at home. We need to do that away from home as well as we can.
“It’s always been hard going away in European games for us but here’s hoping we can do a lot better this season. We have a new man in charge. There’s been a lot of progress. But for us to progress further we need to learn from the three teams we are playing against; their movement, shape, their style of play and that’s what we need to try and build up to.
Read more: Scott Brown: Rangers will perform better against Celtic in semi-final without Joey Barton
“The semi-final is a great game to bounce back in. it’s a huge game for this club especially after getting beat. We don’t enjoy that so it’s great to have a game like this to bounce back in.
Brown is anticipating a far tougher game against Rangers than when Celtic thumped them 5-1 at Parkhead in the Ladbrokes Premiership last month – but he did admit his side would have a psychological edge over their opponents.
Asked if he thought Rangers would be “scarred” by the heavy loss, he said: “I think they will be. They’ve understood we are a top quality team this season. We’re looking a lot better than we have done and are pushing on even more. We’re in the Champions League group stages and have started off extremely well in the league.
"We’ve got pace all over the park as well which we were maybe lacking a bit last season and have experience as well in the likes of Kolo (Toure). But we’ve got pace and quality with the likes of Moussa (Dembele) keeping Griff (Leigh Griffiths) out of the team right now. Griff scored 40 goals last season. He’s exceptional. That shows you the strength and depth we’ve got in the squad.”
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