Aston Villa and Celtic hero tipping Battle of Britain to be Champions League classic
Villa and Celtic hero Alan McInally is predicting a Champions League classic when his former clubs meet in Wednesday night’s Battle of Britain.
McInally reckons hosts Villa are favourites to claim the win which would likely secure them a place in the competition’s last-16.
But he has warned Unai Emery’s team can’t expect to have it all their own way against the Scottish Premier League leaders, who will be eager to prove their quality against English opposition.
Though McInally, who won the title with Celtic and then helped Villa win promotion from the Second Division in 1988, is loathe to make a firm prediction of the result, he is expecting goals.
The former striker explained: “Celtic will see this as the cup final of all cup finals. They are expected to win every game.
“But playing an English team in the Champions League is such an attraction for them. But I do think Villa are the better team.
“The issue for Celtic I see is that I just don’t think they’ll keep a clean sheet at Villa. They don’t do it that often in the league in Scotland. I don’t see them doing it here.
“But they will score goals. It could be a 3-3, night of all nights, one of the all-time classic Champions League clashes.”
Celtic were the last Scottish team to beat Premier League opposition in the Champions League when they defeated Manchester United 1-0 in 2006.
But Rangers have already demonstrated the threat of facing teams north of the border this season, drawing with Tottenham before last week losing narrowly to a stoppage time goal at Manchester United.
The Hoops will also arrive brimming with confidence having already secured their place in the play-off round courtesy a 1-0 win over Young Boys. Brendan Rodgers’ team sit just one point behind Villa in the standings and though it would take an extraordinary set of results for them to finish in the top-eight, they do have the opportunity to play spoiler.
McInally, who twice reached the Champions League semi-finals with Bayern Munich, said: “Villa have to be respectful of every Celtic player. Brendan will be talking about how big this game is for Celtic. He’ll be telling his players.
“But don’t think for one second that Unai Emery doesn’t know how big this is. He is an experienced manager, he has buckets of experience, especially in Europe. He’ll be saying exactly the same things.
“Don’t forget, he’s got John McGinn in there, Celtic fan, Villa player. He’ll be desperate to show what Villa are about.
“I remember being in the Bayern Munich squad when we played Rangers. When the draw was made the players were saying: ‘That’s a great tie for us.’ I had to pull one or two of them up.
“I said: ‘Have any of you been to Ibrox? This is a really difficult game.’ They responded: ‘No, don’t worry, we’ll be fine.’
“We beat them 3-1. Bayern were so confident and the difference was we had Klaus Augenthaler playing for us - and they didn’t. But it was a tough night.
“Even so, when Celtic come to Villa, Brendan will be expected to go back up the M6 and having made a point: ‘We’ve been to Villa Park and turned them over.’
“Everyone talks about whether Celtic or Rangers could prosper in the Premier League. I don’t think it will ever happen. But they will be gauged on how well they do against Aston Villa and England.”
Celtic are set to be backed by 2,100 travelling supporters inside Villa Park, though thousands more are expected to make the journey south.
McInally quipped: “Apparently, you can’t find a parking space in the Bull Ring already!
“I can guarantee there will be 10,000 of them in the city centre and thousands around Villa Park. I just hope they enjoy themselves and the fixture.
“Let’s face it, we all want to see games like this and Villa’s Champions League journey has had Juventus, Bayern and Celtic - I’m lucky I played for three of these clubs - and I turned Juventus down! For that to have been the draw for Villa and to finish on this fixture is unbelievable.
“I don’t want to say who’s going to win because anything can happen but Villa go in as favourites. They are at home and they carry the weight of the Premier League behind them. Celtic have everything to do.”
