David Turnbull had a Real Madrid strip among his collection as a kid.
In the biggest game of his career, he could face midfield maestros in the shape of Luka Modric and Toni Kroos. In so many ways, Celtic ’s mouth-watering showpiece against the European champions stands alone as a potential epic for Turnbull and some of his colleagues. But it’s the fact boss Ange Postecoglou won’t approach Real under the glare of the globe any differently to Ross County in Dingwall last midweek that really gets the midfielder’s juices flowing.
The Aussie has pinned his intentions firmly to the mast. Postecoglou's fast thinking and quick moving team are running riot domestically as they demolish and demoralise rivals. Real Madrid aren’t just a step up in class. They are the elite. But Postecoglou is adamant that, if his team are going to go down tomorrow night, they are going to go down swinging.
And Turnbull laps up such positivity as he explained: “He’s drilled into us from day one the way he wants to play and that won’t change for anyone.
“Going into any game, that’s what we want to do. We don’t want to sit back against any team. We want to go out and play our football whether it is Real Madrid or whether it was Ross County during last week. We want to be the same.
“I don’t think we’ll change. We’ll go into the game full of confidence and play our own game. Whether it works or it doesn’t, we will still play that way and, hopefully, it does work.”
Champions League level is, of course, the premier examination. And Real are the ultimate club.
No-one has won the trophy more. In May, they held it aloft again after sinking Liverpool.
Turnbull had their shirt as a boy as he smiled: “Yeah. I had a few kits. I got a few for my birthdays.”
He couldn’t recall if he had any names on the back of it, but many youngsters around the world at the moment will have Modric on theirs.
Turnbull understands why. He saw the Croatian’s talent up close from the bench and personal when the magician took Scotland apart in the Euros at Hampden last year with a performance the Celtic star described as “he was frightening that day.”
Asked what he admires the most, he said: “Just the way he plays. He’s calm on the ball, very technical and has great control and passing.
“It’s my position as well. It’s just everything about him. That’s the players you want to play against.
“It’ll be great to come across and up against them. I have watched them for years and admired how they play. It’ll be exciting.
”I always watch football. It’s always on in the house. I just try to take as much as I can from these types of players and watch people in your position. Pick up wee bits.”
Celtic, though, don’t plan to stand back in admiration when they get going against Carlo Ancelotti’s superstars. Little wonder. Their high-octane brand of football is blowing teams away at the minute on the home front with Rangers the latest victims.
Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s men were shredded in the East End. Celtic’s speed of play simply ripped them to ribbons. Even the ball-boys and girls are in on it as their team get the ball back in play as fast as possible to leave rivals spinning.
Turnbull said: “Everyone is full of confidence. Since the start of the season, we have all been brilliant. We have a very big squad and everyone is pushing for places.
“I think it’s just the style of play we are playing, it is putting teams under pressure and they can’t cope with it. It’s just about continuing that throughout the season.
“It’s the way the manager wants us to play. Keep the intensity high. If the ball goes out, go and get it as quickly as we can and putting other teams under pressure by pressing them high and trying to win the ball back.
“You just get told, get it back into play as quickly as you can and, at Celtic Park, with the ball boys, it’s good. You could see that with the first goal with Jota taking a quick throw in. It’s part of our game.
“It’s great for all the attacking players to get the freedom in the final third with the way we attack, it is quick and fast-flowing football and it’s great to play in.”
Not even a first-minute injury and subsequent loss of top-scorer Kyogo Furuhashi could halt the champions with Greek Giorgos Giakoumakis taking the role. Turnbull said: “It obviously wasn’t great seeing Kyogo go down so early on, but we have Giako to come on and everyone knows how good he is and what an impact he can have.
“So it’s just about him being ready and coming on and it’s not going to affect the way we play.”
The game was won by half-time with a 3-0 advantage in the bag, but Turnbull was able to savour the thrill of a first Old Firm goal in the second period. He accepted a gift from Rangers keeper Jon McLaughlin who passed the ball straight to him in the box.
Turnbull immediately stuck it straight back past the toiling keeper and he said: “I was just buzzing that it fell to me.
“I don’t quite know how it happened, it was all in the one movement, but it was great to get the ball and it was then just about keeping calm and putting it away and I did that.”
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