HAD things ended differently last April, Erik Sviatchenko might have been a Hampden hero by now. Instead his fine headed goal shortly after half-time on his Old Firm debut has become a footnote in history, a rare bright spot on a bleak day as Tom Rogic's errant penalty in the shoot-out handed Rangers a famous semi-final victory. The memory lingers in the Dane's memory as the two teams prepare to meet at the national stadium for the first time since that day in the last four of Scotland's other main cup competition, even if the central defender suspects that the 5-1 rout which Celtic enjoyed against the same opponents in the league this September is a more relevant one.
"It was an afternoon of mixed emotions, ups and downs," said Sviatchenko. "I remember it clearly. Hopefully in this tournament we will do better than the Scottish Cup because we showed last time [the league match] what we are all about. If we can put some of the same performance we showed at Celtic Park it will be a good day but they are a good team as well and it will be a tough game."
Mark Warburton swears blind that the meeting between the teams in September wasn't a "5-1 match" and in a sense the Englishman is correct. The final score was skewed by the dismissal of Ranger defender Philippe Senderos shortly after his manager had made an attacking change to replace Rob Kiernan. The Ibrox side were no longer able to protect themselves and Celtic ruthlessly exploited it on the day. Sviatchenko accepts that Rangers will be desperate to atone today and it would be foolish for Celtic fans to expect the same kind of margin of scoreline.
"It might make them a little more dangerous, yes," said the Dane. "But it’s all about intensity. How much can we put in? How much effort can we put in? When we are at our best, when we are intense and push high on our opponents then every opponent will have a problem, so that will be some of the match plans. I wouldn’t say they [our fans] should expect that [5-1 again] but they should expect a team that will do everything they can to be the best we can."
While Sviatchenko and Kolo Toure enjoyed a largely unflustered afternoon at Celtic Park back in September, the veteran Ivorian comes into the match on the back of the first mis-steps of his early Parkhead career. While one suspects that an efficient Borussia Moenchengladbach side might have found a way to win in any case, the two goals which gave them Champions League victory at Celtic Park on Wednesday night came directly from Toure's defensive mistakes. He chided himself for making schoolboy errors after being caught in possession by Andre Hahn as he attempted to foolishly attempted to shepherd the ball out for a goal kick as Lars Stindl lashed in the first goal, then was robbed by Stindl as Hahn ran on to prod in the late clincher.
His central defensive partner chimed with the rest of the Celtic team in insisting there was no finger pointing in the Parkhead dressing room and that Toure has the strength of character to put it to the back of his mind at Hampden tomorrow. "It’s not the first time in his career he has made a mistake," said Sviatchenko. "He’s 35 and he has tried that before and as a defender it is your take on the game sometimes. It could have been another player, another game. Kolo knows what it takes and in other games he has saved us from conceding goals. We are all together in this, it’s not on one person. We need to be focused and move on."
Defenders' mistakes tend to get punished far more at Champions League level than in Scottish domestic action but exposure to this kind of level of player can only benefit Celtic in the long run. "It’s about learning," he said. "We are getting things underneath our skin and you will see this new Celtic team coming up. We need to accept it will take time even though we want it to happen in a split second. I believe this team in the months and years ahead will be much, much better. You can see we are improving, improving, improving. Sometimes it will take a loss or a draw or a victory and then we will see.
"It shouldn’t be a problem to lift ourselves," he added. "The game on Sunday would be characterised as one of the big games and if you don’t have what it takes to be ready for those games then you shouldn’t be playing football."
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