ROBERT SNODGRASS, the Scotland forward, believes former team-mate Leigh Griffiths must start for Celtic in Thursday night's Europa League match against Internazionale.
Celtic welcome the Italians to Parkhead for the first leg of the sides' last 32 tie looking to secure a positive result to take to Milan for the return the following week. Griffiths has scored in his last three games for Ronny Deila's side and Snodgrass, who played with the striker at Livingston, thinks he deserves to feature ahead of the likes of Anthony Stokes and John Guidetti.
"You need to start him as he's on fire just now," said the Hull City forward as he lent his support to a Tesco Bank Football Challenge event at his former primary school in Glasgow. "I've watched him and he's working hard for the team. He should have had four goals in the first 45 minutes [on Saturday against St Johnstone] so I think you need to play him. He's the only player in the Celtic frontline that can stretch the defence.
"Stokes, Guidetti and [Kris] Commons like [the ball] to come to feet, they are more of a number 10. Leigh is the only one that can stretch a defence and push them back against Inter. I watched him when he played with Hibs and he was the same as when I played with him [at Livingston] when he was younger.
"He would shoot from every possible angle. And you're thinking, "what is he doing?" but to him that's normal as he's hungry for goals. And that's a great attribute to have. He's got that freshness, he's on his toes all the time and he's like a kid. Give him the ball and he'll try to score goals. You can see the Celtic backroom staff have worked with him to get him to work hard for the team."
Snodgrass, in the middle of a year-long rehabilitation after suffering a serious knee injury on his Hull debut in August, will be at Celtic Park on Thursday as a fan and hopes Griffiths can make a positive impact.
"I'm going to go to the game so it would be great to see him play having played with him as a kid," he added. "Leigh only ever needed a level of maturity to kick on and the only way you get that is by playing games. The one thing he also has is a lethal left foot. He can score goals from anywhere. Players like Leigh excite fans by getting them on the edge of their seat. He's been scoring goals and hopefully he can continue to do that on Thursday."
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