Bhoys can rattle Hamburg

TONY MOWBRAY believes Celtic can stun Hamburg by winning in the imposing Nordbank Arena.

Mogga's side lost out to a Marcus Berg goal at Celtic Park a fortnight ago.

But the Hoops boss believes Bruno Labbadia's willingness to push men forward gives his Bhoys a chance to catch them with a sucker-punch strike.

Mowbray said: "I think I saw enough from our first game against them to suggest we can go to Hamburg and win.

"Let's be difficult to play against and when the opportunities come, let's try to take them.

"Hamburg have shown enough to suggest we can do some damage.

"I think they've only had one clean sheet this season - a 0-0 draw with Bayer Leverkusen the other week - so they do concede goals.

"By going out and trying to score, they leave themselves open at times. They spread out and play and they have quality attackers.

"But we will have opportunities and this time we have to take one of them.

"There was an over-riding disappointment of losing the last game, but the feeling in the dressing room afterwards was that it was definitely a game we could have won because we created plenty of scoring opportunities.

"Those are the type of nights when you just hope one of those chances will fall your way and you'll win the game. It's why Celtic's home record in Europe has been so good over the years.

"You get results against Barcelona, Manchester United and Milan by defending well and staying in the game as long as you can and then hoping for a break, a deflected goal, a chance that comes, a corner or a set-play.

"I'd like to think in all our European games we have been defensively well set up, been hard to play against and hard to break down. Have we got the breaks in front of goal? I don't think so.

"Generally the team have been competitive in Europe. It's just fine margins whether you win 1-0 or lose 1-0.

"I genuinely think we are not a million miles from winning these type of games 1-0 and I'd like to see a repeat of our performance in Moscow on Thursday when we went there and won."

Hamburg are third in the league after yesterday's 3-2 home defeat to Borussia Moenchengladbach and Mowbray is hoping the returning Marco-Antoine Fortune can pile on the misery.

Hamburg's defence struggled to handle the powerful Kevin Kuranyi last weekend and the Schalke striker helped himself to a double in a 3-3 draw.

Mowbray said: "You can't compare Fortune to Kuranyi, but I do think we have missed the physical element of Marco's game and his ability to hold the ball and bring the midfield into play.

"If you've been out eight or nine weeks it's very hard to come back straight in and continue where you left off and be flying again.

"You need to take it slow rather than jump straight in and expect to play 90 minutes at full pelt and look great."

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