 | Marc Crosas hopes to prove his worth |
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Marc Crosas will be a vital part of the Celtic engine room tomorrow night against Hamburg and the ex-Barcelona midfielder is hoping to prove to Tony Mowbray that he can be more than a bit-part player in this side.
Crosas has been impressive in the last two games at Celtic Park and he's hoping to take that good form into the must-win clash at the HSH Nordbank Arena in order to show the boss and the fans that he's worthy of inclusion in the team.
"Every footballer wants to play and this season has been difficult for me at times." he said. "I have just been trying to work hard every day on the training ground with my team-mates and also to take my opportunities on the pitch and try and do my best. That's what I have tried to do against Hearts and Kilmarnock, although I can't say I was happy about the Hearts game last week because we lost and we're out of the cup."
"Personally, I think I have done quite well." continued Celtic's number 17. "It's not easy when you are not getting games and then you start a game you are not at your best, but that's why I have to keep working every day in training and try to keep my chin up. It's not that I have to make an impact when I do play. It's just that I have to try and show the manager, the staff and the fans my kind of game and what I can give to the team. It's not like I have to go out and score a hat-trick, because that's not my work. I have to go out and do my best in all my games and do my job."
The Europa League campaign has been a bit of a nightmare so far - Celtic lost to Hapoel Tel Aviv in Israel and dropped 5 points out of six at home to Rapid Vienna and Hamburg - but Crosas insists that they could perhaps consider themselves unfortunate in the games up until now. "When we played in Israel, we were much better in the first half, and the only thing we didn't do was get the second goal." he said. "Had we done that the game was over. Even in the games against Hamburg and Vienna it was little things which counted against us. But we can do well."
Another player hoping to play a big part in the game is Marc-Antoine Fortuné who came off the bench during Saturday's 3-0 win over Kilmarnock. "It's easy to look back and say that we've missed Marc but you always miss good players when they are out," said boss Tony Mowbray. "He adds something different to the team. When he was fit and available at the start of the season, the team was generally scoring goals."
"He gives us a different dimension to the qualities of Scott McDonald and Georgios Samaras." he added. "Those two players have worked very hard for us, but Marc's work with his back to goal can give us a platform. We will look to utilise him and the other strikers as the season goes on. They all have a part to play, but I was delighted with Marc's return."
Despite his delight at the player's return the manager wouldn't confirm a starting slot against Hamburg for Fortuné. "You can never know how a game pans out, but we need to make sure we stay in the football match," said Mowbray. "Hamburg have talented players, but we could also see from the first game that we can compete with them. We will give them respect, but we know we have to score a goal over there. We'll set the team up to stay in the game but we'll also be pushing the longer the game goes on and hopefully we get the rewards out of it."
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