Jeffrey Schlupp: Celts are focused on weekend challenge | OneFootball

Defender Jeffrey Schlupp is set to make his sixth Celtic appearance tomorrow (Saturday) in the lunchtime visit to Easter Road as the Hoops travel to play Hibernian.

The return to domestic action, comes following Celtic’s memorable, but heart-breaking battle with Bayern Munich in midweek, but the Ghanaian internationalist and his team-mates are now mentally attuned to the task of taking on the Edinburgh side.

He said: “The main message is obviously we had the moment over there, but that has gone now unfortunately, we’ve got to focus on the league again now.

“Sometimes you have it when teams are on that massive high, and maybe look at the next game, against Hibs, and think we’re supposed to beat them, and before you know you can maybe get an upset - the manager’s making sure we’re not in that kind of mind-set.

“It’s another game in our mission to win this league and everyone is focused on doing that, with hopefully a strong performance.”

Schlupp was just one of an entire team of heroes on the pitch of the Allianz on Tuesday night, and he put in a sterling shift against one of the best teams in the world who were incessantly probing the Celtic defence when afforded the opportunity.

He laughed: “I felt that everything was happening down my side to be honest. But you do enjoy it, you know you’re in a battle, you’re slide-tackling, you’re running back, you’re giving everything and the rewards are obviously massive.

“And when you’re playing against top players you don’t really have a choice, but have to compete, which is what we all want to do.

“I want to play games, and to play in a massive game like that is just bringing me joy.”

The player arrived on loan for the rest of this season from Crystal Palace, but already there have been calls for him to extend his stay.

The defender said: “Everyone is asking that question, but I’ve come here on loan ‘til the end of the season – anything beyond that is out of my control at the minute, so we’ve just got to focus on the league for now, we want to win the league, win the cup and then what will be will be.”

In four of his five games so far, the Celts have been at home, and that has let the German-born Celt fully enjoy his experience with the club.

He said: “It’s been amazing. I came here to hopefully get some game-time, and the squad is flying at the minute, so to be able to have played this much, so soon is obviously massive.

“And, pretty much all of the games have been at home which has been great as well, so I’ve loved going out there in front of the fans at Celtic Park.

“Everyone knows the history behind it, I’ve played there once before I came here and I was just itching to play in front of the home fans, and I’ve managed to do that more times than not, so it’s exceeded my expectations probably.

“I knew a little bit of what to expect, but to actually play for Celtic at home has been amazing.”

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Fixtures

Hibernian Vs. Celtic - Sat, Feb 22nd 2025, 12:30