Facing Alphonso Davies, and why Kane will be step up from Watkins for Celtic - chof 360 news

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Celtic full back Alistair Johnston says Canada teammate Alphonso Davies is typical of the quality in the Bayern Munich side. <i>(Image: John Walton - PA)</i>

Celtic full back Alistair Johnston says Canada teammate Alphonso Davies is typical of the quality in the Bayern Munich side. (Image: John Walton - PA)

It is safe to say that given the history and profile of Bayern Munich and the embarrassment of world class riches that their manager Vincent Kompany has at his disposal, that everyone connected with Celtic has a fair idea what they are up against in the play-off round of the Champions League.

Alistair Johnston though knows exactly what he might be up against though, with his international teammate and Canada captain Alphonso Davies a mainstay of Bayern's left flank, and inarguably one of the best players in his position on the planet.

Davies was withdrawn during Bayern’s win over Feyenoord on Wednesday night with a hamstring issue, but if he does make it back in time for the Celtic tie, Johnston knows that he will have to be right on top of his game to have any chance of nullifying him.

“I actually haven't talked to him yet, just obviously the draw being so quick,” Johnston said.

(Image: Nick Potts - PA) “I've trained against him plenty of times and played in our squads. It's not a ton of fun going against the speed and the technical ability that he has. But yeah, there'll be some good banter.

“Hopefully we can give them a good, proper match, especially at Celtic Park, so we can go into that second leg with a lot of confidence and still in the tie that we can potentially cause a massive upset.

“So, then that March [international] window, maybe I can have a little bit of bragging rights to bring back to the lads.


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"I'll definitely reach out to him after this. He came through at Vancouver, where I was born. We never actually played together [when we were coming through] or anything like that.

“He's the captain of our national team. I'm kind of a part of that leadership group, so I try to help him out in any way possible.

“He's a really good lad. He's been thrust into the limelight from a very young age. I think he went over to Bayern Munich when he must have been 18, and he was in the world's best XI at the age of 19.

“So, look, the guy's accomplished everything already, and he was born in 2000. It's frightening. It makes me feel old.

“He's a top player, top guy, and he's the captain of our national team for a reason. He's a massive part of that Bayern Munich team as well for a reason.

“So, it won't be easy, especially if he is playing on our side. But again, you look through their squad, it's top, top players littered throughout the entire line-up.

“Whoever's playing, we're going to be ready for it, and ready for a really difficult match.”

Nowhere is that more evident than in the striking position.

Johnston came up against England forward Ollie Watkins on Wednesday night, who scored in Aston Villa’s 4-2 win over the Scottish champions, and he feels that the Villa striker’s international teammate Harry Kane will be another step up in class again.

“I mean, the numbers speak for themselves with him,” he said.

“One of the top strikers in the world, one of the best goal scorers of this generation.

“So, it's something that we're obviously going to have to be very aware of. But again, there's top talent littered all over their squad.

“But yeah, he's the one that you probably circle and think, 'okay, we need to keep him off the score sheet as much as possible.' But it's not an easy task.

(Image: Nick Potts - PA) "I mean, he's a top forward for a reason, and I think we got a little glimpse of that obviously with Ollie Watkins. You could probably make an argument that Harry Kane maybe is the next level, even above Ollie.

“But those top tier forwards, they pose a threat. They're constantly pulling off the shoulder and picking up really dangerous spots. And they do the hard work too at this level.

“And so, it's something that we're going to be ready for. It's going to be an exciting challenge for our back line to be able to deal with that front three and (Jamal) Musiala, whoever's playing kind of in the 10 role.

“So much talent, but again, another great challenge for us.”

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