Celtic manager Ronny Deila has opted to respond to the barbed comments of the Malmo manager and goalkeeper following this week's Champions League qualifier first leg.
Malmo goalkeeper, Johan Wiland was beside himself with disgust at the conduct of the Celtic players, naming Leigh Griffiths by name and Scott Brown by role (captain). The delicate Mr. Wiland referred to the Celtic boys as 'pigs', an unusual characterisation as applied from one footballer to another set of footballers but then he isn't speaking in his first language.
They are pigs, all of them, that’s the way it is. You just have to try to stay cool and do what we have to do on the pitch. Leigh Griffiths, well, I don’t know what to say, he behaved like a child, tugging shirts all the time.
Then, Malmo manager Age Hareide suggested Celtic weren't tip top in the fitness department and couldn't hack it for the whole 90 minutes.
Deila wasn't sure which of the comments he found more bemusing. Of the manager's assertion that the Celtic players were unfit, Deila was inclined to point out that Celtic won the match on Wednesday, although they did surrender a late goal.
For me, that’s funny. As I remember, we won 3-2 on Wednesday. That is the first thing. We didn’t lose 3-0 or 4-0. We won the game and I’ve seen Mr Hareide very high up and very low down in Norway many times. He’s a funny guy and he tries to play these games and that’s something you just have to leave.
Hopefully, he won’t ruin his own brain: that’s the most important thing. You need to ask him what kind of tactic that is. We are a very fit team and we played some great football on Wednesday and we’re really looking forward to Tuesday. It’s going to be a big game.
As for Wiland's intemperate review, he said he had looked at the game and 'didn't see anything wrong. It was a fair game and remarks like that are just too low-level to comment on. It’s not the Celtic way to do that.'
Asked to instance another animal he would rather see his players compared to, he said he liked 'Lions'. Perhaps harking back to the heroes of Lisbon there.
[London Times]
