Hutchison: Hungry for more wonderful Euro nights

"After losing away to AaB Aalborg this week we are out of Europe - out of the Champions League and the UEFA Cup. The mood has been a bit low and, understandably, everyone is feeling down about it." said Ben "Our away form in Europe has been awful, it´s just been so hard to get a win. I wish I could explain why. We´ve shown amazing form domestically and I don't know why things are so different away from home in the Champions League. I think it´s affected by the build-up in the papers and people always talking about it. Aalborg were there for the taking and they scored two lucky goals. I thought it was the chance we had to stop the rot with away wins but obviously it wasn't to be."

The Aalborg result was cruel and Hutchison is hoping that lessons have been learned about the harsh realities of European football. Celtic should have won easily, in fact they could have had the tie wrapped up within the first ten minutes, but for their profligacy in front of goal "We can use this season´s disappointment in a positive way though, it´ll spur us on to do better and then hopefully we can put it to bed by qualifying next season. In the previous two years we have made it to the last 16 which is a real achievement. So it´s not all doom and gloom, we have just got to do it next season."

The lure of Champions League football was one of the reasons the young Englishman decided to leave Middlesbrough and sign for Celtic and now that he's sampled those glorious European nights he knows that signing for the Scottish champions was the correct decision "Now that I have had a taste of what it´s like to play in the Champions League, I am really hungry for more. As a footballer you always want to play in the big games and competitions. It doesn't come much bigger than the Champions League." he said "It was an amazing experience to play against Manchester United in the Champions League. What a great feeling. I came on for Scott McDonald. I didn't have any time to get nervous. I was just excited and I wanted to do a good job."

"The atmosphere was unbelievable." added Ben "It was so loud you couldn't hear what the other players were saying to each other. In fact, it was so loud you couldn't even hear yourself think. I´m an Arsenal fan (so maybe there was a bit more incentive for me to beat United…) but I was made up to get the opportunity to play on the same pitch as them. Their players are out of this world. They are the champions of Europe and they are by far the best side I have ever played against. I´ll always remember that game."

Now the club will concentrate on domestic matters and Inverness Caledonian Thistle will be the first team to test the resolve of a Celtic team still licking their wounds from the European exit. "I want to play more, not only in Europe but in any game. I´m dying to get myself involved, which I am capable of doing." said the striker "We´ve got Inverness this weekend and we're on such a good run at the moment that I can´t see it ending. We´re at the top and we want to stay at the top so we´ll be doing everything we can to get another three points. As I said, our domestic form has been really good. We´re unbeaten in 11 games and that´s been with a severely depleted squad."

He's had his share of injuries since joining the club and that has held him back in the fight for first team recognition but he's not been short of company in the treatment room lately. "We´ve been hit hard by injuries recently and to have such a good run with so many players missing shows what a strong squad we have got." said the young forward "It´s been crazy - once one player comes back, another goes out, the injuries have been unbelievable. It´s not true that the gaffer has banned tackling though! I hear that it had been written in a few papers. You can´t stop players tackling in training. But I think it´s probably fair to say that the tackles have been a bit gentler recently, we´re aware of how many players are injured and we don't want any more! We are being a bit cautious now."

Ben's own blog can be found here: http://www.benhutchinson.co.uk/