ANGE POSTECOGLOU has got the Celtic players believing they can take on anyone in the Champions League, and that they can do so on their own terms by playing their own style of football, according to Joe Hart.
Celtic will find out who their opponents are going to be in the Champions League group stage this Thursday when the draw takes place in Istanbul, and Hart and the rest of the squad are now turning their attention towards the competition.
Despite being a pot four team, they are doing so with the confidence that they can go toe to toe with the best teams Europe has to offer, as the players are fully committed to carrying out their manager’s gameplan no matter the opposition.
“He hasn’t got us feeling like we can beat anyone, but he has certainly got us feeling that if we are together we can take anyone on and give a good account of ourselves,” Hart said.
“He doesn’t like putting limits on what we can achieve and I like living in that world. Long may it continue.
“I’m fully aware I’ve not got as much to look forward to as, for example, Jota career wise. But I love stepping up and going into every game with excitement and not knowing what will come next.
“He is us and we are him, so we are rolling as a unit.”
Such is the belief that Hart has in his teammates, a possible clash against old club Manchester City isn’t something that fazes him.
“That part of my life I’m very proud of and I’ve got endless love for that club,” he said.
“But, life goes on, as was proven by how I left the place.
“It’s a superb football club, it’s a superb set up, there’s lot of people I get on with there.
“But there’s certainly no one in there that I don’t want a part of playing against.
“My kind of focus is on what we do and how we prepare and what we can do and what we can bring to the table.”
Hart admits that at one stage he thought his days of playing in the Champions League might be behind him before the move to Celtic which has revitalised his career, and he is determined to savour the experience when it comes.
“I try not to think [too far ahead], especially knowing football as I know it,” he said.
“If you asked me a few years ago if I was going to be playing Champions League football, if I was giving an honest answer I’d say no.
“I’ve always backed my ability and I performed well at that level and I deserved to be there, but football is about opportunities and taking them, believing in projects, I’m here and I’m ready.
“Maybe when I was younger [I took it for granted]. I can probably liken it to the first time I was getting in the Champions League when I was 23, you just expect the world to keep giving.
“That was how I felt at the time, whether that’s wrong or right. But I just wanted more, I felt like I could take on the world.
“I’m at a different stage of my life in terms of family and how I feel about things. But it’s still a great feeling, it’s still an exciting feeling. It’s just a different feeling. But we grow up and we evolve.
“I think we’re all going to feel it. The club’s excited.
“Liking it to full circle, when we got to the Champions league with Man City that was the first time the club had ever done it.
“This club’s used to it and has had five seasons without it. So that feeling’s quite similar. What a great feeling, what a great time to be involved in football.
“And at a club like this.”
