Celtic's glamorous Champions League tie against Manchester United at Old Trafford might overshadow Saturday's SPL clash against Inverness Caley Thistle in some people's eyes but fortunately, for Celtic and their fans, club captain Stephen McManus is not one of those people.
Having fought hard to regain top position in the table the champions are fully focussed on retaining their title and lifting the Scottish Premier League trophy for the fourth time in succession "The Champions League might be more glamorous but the SPL is the priority" said the skipper.
He insisted that the Highland club merits the same respect as the current holders of the Champions League trophy "We're all looking forward to Old Trafford but Inverness is the priority. We are top of the league and don't want to throw it away now. It's a hard venue to go to although our results have been decent there over the years. But that counts for nothing on Saturday, we need to go there and get a good result. Then we can we start thinking about Europe."
"We'll enjoy Tuesday, it's the sort of occasion you dream about when you are younger, but at Celtic you can never afford to let your standards drop. Tuesday will take care of itself but Saturday is vital. We're top of the league and we want to stay there."
The big defender missed the recent international against Norway through suspension but feels he may have benefitted from the rest "It was good to get a break and I'm feeling good after the time off. Don't get me wrong, I would rather have been involved with Scotland but it wasn't to be and the gaffer was great with me. I was able to get myself away for a few days and, hopefully, the break will benefit me."
"It was unusual" he continued, "but we have a lot of games coming up in the next few weeks and I'm refreshed and looking forward to the challenges ahead. It's going to be pretty hectic but that suits me down to the ground."
Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink will be one key player who will miss both upcoming games through injury but McManus knows the squad has enough talent in reserve to ensure that the quality of the team won't be compromised. He said "It's at these times in a season that the big squad is invaluable and I think the manager knows that he has quality players in every position. We have midweek games for the next month as well as the SPL matches at the weekend but you wouldn't want it any other way."
"We have a bit of momentum going and we need to keep that up." said the skipper "To be honest, I think this is probably the strongest squad I have ever been involved in at Celtic. The gaffer will look at every player and be using them all over the next few weeks. I've experienced seasons when you don't have European and cup games to look forward to and that's not ideal for a player, you just want to be playing games and I'm looking forward to every one between now and Christmas - not just Manchester United."