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Chris Davies delivers bullish verdict ahead of hazardous Celtic CL qualifier
Celtic assistant manager Chris Davies is confident that the Hoops can step up and defeat Armenian champions Alashkert in their first round of Champions League qualifiers.
Despite the Hoops facing a 5,000 round trip to Armenia in oppressively hot conditions, Davies believes that if the Hoops play as well as they can they should have no difficultly in getting through to the second round.
“The simplicity for us is that if we play to our normal level and intensity, then we will beat them. But we won’t be underestimating them at all, there will be no complacency whatsover” Davies said, as quoted by the Scottish Sun.
“We have seen before that these teams can be tricky to play against”.
The Hoops’ trip to Armenia will be their first competitive game of the season, on the 10th or 11th of July.
Football Insider verdict
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Chris Davies’ comments could be construed as slightly arrogant, but you have to say that he is just being truthful. If Celtic play to the best of their abilities, then of course they should beat the champions of Armenia. But of course, football isn’t as simple as that. Add in the heat, the length of the journey and the lack of competitive football, then the match could be very tricky for the Bhoys. Not helping matters is the fact that the likes of Tom Rogic and Mikael Lustig will miss the game because of World Cup commitments. Of course, a good thing about the tie is that it is only the first leg, and if the Hoops do struggle they have the second leg in Glasgow to put things right. At most other times of the season, a one goal win over the champions of Armenia wouldn’t be the greatest result, but there is no doubt that Davies and Brendan Rodgers would take that result in the first leg.
In other Celtic news, the Hoops have been linked with an Aberdeen defender
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