Brown targets Benfica return but has not felt 100% fit since 'halfway through last season'

Chief football writer

Friday 14 September 2012

SCOTT BROWN, the Celtic captain, last night revealed he has not felt 100% fit in a game for almost a year.

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Michael Grant

Brown has played only four times this season, missing all domestic and international football but appearing in each of Celtic's Champions League qualifiers. He hopes to be available against St Johnstone in the Clydesdale Bank Premier League tomorrow but is almost certain to be ready when the Champions League group campaign opens at home to Benfica next Wednesday.

Brown has been advised to rest because of a degenerative problem in his hip. Celtic's medical staff have advised him on which games to play, and which to miss, and his training has also been disrupted. He has not played at all since the club's home leg against Helsingborgs on August 29.But the 27-year-old said he had not felt fully fit since the middle of last season, when he suffered ankle problems before a hernia was diagnosed which required surgery in the summer. The emergence of the hip problem has continued his difficulties.When asked when he last felt 100% fit, Brown said: "Probably halfway through last season until just before I started to feel my hernia. I was flying and running around with nothing wrong. Then there was a niggle in my hernia, I had an operation and it's gone downhill from there."Maybe two or three weeks down the line I'll be feeling brand new again. I hope I can start full training next week and take it from there."I'm feeling a lot better, I've had two weeks rest. I've just sat and relaxed. I'll try training tomorrow and see how things go. If I can play on Saturday then I will. If not, the bigger game is Benfica and I'm looking forward to it."I just needed a bit of rest. There was a lot of inflammation between the bones. As soon as that goes away I'll be feeling a bit younger than I do at the minute. I've got to see how it settles. It's going to be a hard November as well, there's going to be a lot of games. Hopefully, we don't need to go as far as surgery and everything will settle down. Then I'll be like a new man."Operations are part and parcel of the game now. It's more high tempo, there's more tackling, more running, than before. And the way I play as well, box-to-box, I've got to get about it and it takes its toll eventually. Your body tells you once or twice a season that you've got take a rest."

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Brown targets Benfica return but has not felt 100% fit since 'halfway through last season'

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