Alistair Johnston

Agree. We’ll sell him in the summer or next summer for £12mil+ (worth more but age is against us sale wise).

only thing that stops that is AJ not wanting the move but EVERY ‘foreign’ player has the premier league or la liga in their sights nowadays

 

I tend to agree but in fairness there has never been a sniff from Johnston on wanting to go to England or elsewhere from what I can recall.

 

Contract extension is brilliant news.

 

Superb..

 

Hopefully mate but we’ve seen this story a billion times before haven’t we!

 

Brilliant interview.

100% our next captain

 

He's been playing very well, but had a very poor start to the Hearts game. Was at fault for oth of the big chances they had early on.

 

Would be an honour to have him as club captain at some point

 

Alistair Johnston is dreaming of making Champions League history – and hoping for another Celtic sleepless night.

The Hoops hero revealed he couldn’t get any kip after being left on such a high after rolling over RB Leipzig last time out. And he’ll be thrilled with another all-nighter if Celts can put the group stage to bed against Club Brugge on Wednesday night. Brendan Rodgers’ men can all but seal their spot in the play-off round with another three points after the huge victory over Leipzig on the back of the battling draw against Atalanta


Johnston didn’t get a wink after the RB thriller but knows the Hoops will need a repeat again the in-form Belgian big guns. He said: “For the Leipzig match, Celtic Park was on fire. It was unbelievable. Everyone walked out of the stadium that night just overjoyed with that. I didn’t sleep and I can’t imagine our fans really slept too much after that

Those poor people that had to go to work the next day, I feel for them. But again, it’s matches like that, which just get you hooked

It really is almost like a drug that you just want more and more of once you get a little taste of it. Now you’re just so excited for the next one to go out there and hopefully replicate it or take it even a step further and have a better performance.”

Celtic haven’t managed to blast beyond the Champions League group stage for 11 years – when Neil Lennon’s men beat Barcelona on the way to the last 16. Gordon Strachan’s Celts pulled it off twice while Martin O’Neill’s men achieved huge wins in the competition and reached the UEFA Cup Final



Johnston is well aware of the Hoops European heroes – and he insisted the current team is determined to create a famous story of their own. He said: “When you come to one of these famous clubs like Celtic, you want to make your own history


But you want to be a part of things that fans remember – you want to be remembered for something. I’d love to go down being remembered as being a part of one of the best Celtic teams that you can possibly be a part of.

“This team so far with what we’ve shown, we’re definitely rivalling that, but at the same time you need to win trophies. The European nights are really important. If you can do something on the European stage, that will live long in our fans’ memories.

 

Thought he was poor tonight. Struggled to get forward to support Kühn which made them so much more difficult to break down.

 

Such a weird performance from him tonight, and the whole team as well actually.

Looked like we were running on empty from kick off.

 

Aye that's a good point. There was a chasm of difference in the energy levels tonight compared to the match against Leipzig.

 

As I said to you boys in the chat, it's as if we had set up to play counter attack fitba yet didnt know what to do when Brugge sat back and were compact through the middle.

Can actually count on one hand how many passes we made through the centre, and most of them were 2nd half...

 

I had a 30 quid double on him and their young right back to be booked for 330. Was expecting the usual ice hockey challenge but he * me for it, the young boy copped a card at the end..

 

He's played a lot of football recently, 70 minutes away to Killie and Hearts, 90 minutes tonight and played twice for Canada during the break.

He was poor tonight but not too surprising, would rest him against County.

 

Bit meh, but was as involved as anyone and probably better than most.

 

Alistair Johnston warned Celtic won’t take their eye off the ball in the Premiership despite being dazzled by the Champions League.

The Hoops are in prime position to progress from the group stage in Europe after Wednesday’s 1-1 draw with Club Brugge fired the side to within striking distance of the play-off round. Celtic might only be two or three points away from qualifying for the first time since 2013 with a home clash with struggling Young Boys Bern in between trips to Dinamo Zagreb and Aston Villa. Johnston admitted Celts are relishing being in the fight – but the Euro glamour will be put on the back burner as the Parkhead men are gearing up for a massive fortnight on the domestic front.



Brendan Rodgers' Celts face Ross County in Glasgow this weekend before a crucial trip to Pittodrie to take on challengers Aberdeen – with the Premier Sports Cup Final and a showdown with Rangers on the horizon on December 15. Johnston has set his sights on Champions League success – but he is adamant the domestic form will fuel their continental charge.




He said: “It’s goes hand in hand. You know if you do well domestically, you give yourself a chance. If we hopefully win the league this year, you still have to qualify. But these kinds of nights give you extra motivation for the league because you want to be here next year


We have so many games, it’s just match after match, so it’s going to be a busy spell. We have such a good squad here though it’s an exciting period and we’re all looking forward to it. Zagreb is a couple of weeks away, so we are focused on County this weekend


We have the confidence in the group no matter the game or how hostile the environment – which I’m guessing it’s going to be crazy over there – then we are ready for anything that’s thrown at us. It’s an exciting match.”



Johnston was in the wars against Brugge and was left with a nasty gash in his leg after a brutal late challenge. But the Canada star shrugged it off and insisted he will be all set to square up with the Staggies on Saturday. He said: “I took a couple of painful ones but that’s the nature of the job.”