Blair Spittal keen to 'get one over' Celtic sparring partner as Hearts star looks to stun Copenhagen
Blair Spittal is one-all with former Celtic ace Mohamed Elyounoussi in head-to-head meetings from the Copenhagen star’s time in Scotland.
Tomorrow night in the Parken Stadium the Hearts ace knows if he can edge ahead of the Norwegian then the Jambos will have cemented a Conference League play-off spot. Five years have passed since the midfielder was in a Ross County side that suffered a bruising 6-0 defeat at Celtic Park. But they took revenge in style with a 1-0 win at Dingwall in February 2021 that cost Neil Lennon his job. Elyounoussi came off the bench in that defeat but couldn’t turn the tide and Spittal would love to get another one over the old Bhoy.
Hearts are the underdogs against Pot 1 Copenhagen, who romped to the last 16 of the Champions League last season, beating Manchester United and drawing with Bayern Munich on the way. And Elyounoussi is just one of a host of big names in Jacob Neestrup’s side where he is joined by Victor Claesson, Thomas Delaney and Brazilian flying machine Robert.
But Spittal said: “I know him from past experience. When I was at County – quite a long time ago – and we won 1-0 on a Monday night. There’s both positive and negative experiences of course, but hopefully tomorrow we’ll get one over on him.
“I expect a tough game, them being the pot one team, but we don’t want to just come here and sit behind the ball, force ourselves to get deeper and deeper and just invite them on to us. It’s all about how we counter their threats as well. There’s definitely signs in training that we can go and do that.
“It’s top quality opposition that we’re playing against. Last year the Champions League they did very well as well. They’ll be expecting to come here tomorrow and put on a show but at the same time you’ve got to go and let them spoil that.”
Hearts could already have sealed a play-off spot had they not slipped up away to Brugge a fortnight ago. A missed Lawrence Shankland penalty and a host of wasted chances ended with a 2-0 defeat to the Belgians.
Spittal knows it was a missed opportunity and is determined to make up for it against Copenhagen. He said: “That was one of real frustration. I didn’t think there was a lot between the two teams and they punished us in key moments.
“It’s something we need to learn from. The last couple of games we’ve lost but, overall in Europe, we’ve performed pretty well. So it’s going to be a really tough test here.
“We’re going to have to be really, really concentrated throughout the 90 minutes but we’ll concentrate on the job that’s in hand. It probably took us a couple of match days to get used to the new format but we know where we are in the league now and what we need to do in the next two games.”
Around 3000 Hearts fans are set to be part of the 30,000 crowd in the Danish capital tonight. It’s a far cry from the closed doors opening game against Dinamo Minsk in Azerbaijan and eerie half-empty Jan Breydel Stadium in Brugge. Spittal can’t wait to taste the atmosphere – and insists a packed house can help drive the Jambos on to a famous result.
He said: ‘Aye, you want to play in the biggest games as players. We’re used to big crowds back at home. At Tynecastle we get a good following as well so it’ll be a different experience.
“It’s all about how we manage the ball. The first couple of games in Europe we’d done that pretty well, controlled most games but in Brugge I don’t think we used the ball well enough. We learn from that – as soon as you win the ball back you don’t have to go and score straight away.
“It’s all about having a few passes and getting control of the game. That’s what we want to do but when the chances come along we have got confidence that we can take them.”
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