LIKE so many football-obsessed Scottish youngsters, David Turnbull idolised Real Madrid when he was growing up in Wishaw.
The Celtic midfielder wore the Bernabeu club’s strips as a kid and marvelled at their star players’ skills.
So he is looking forward to the match against Carlo Ancelotti’s side, not least their talisman Luka Modric, every bit as much as any supporter.
“It’ll be great to come across and up against them,” he said yesterday as he looked ahead to the Champions League encounter with the defending champions at Parkhead tomorrow night.
“I have watched them for years and admired how they play. I had a few Real Madrid kits. I got a few for my birthdays. I’ll be excited.”
The Scotland internationalist would never compare himself to Croatian great Modric – but he admits the former Ballon d’Or winner and World Cup finalist was an inspiration to him as an aspiring professional.
“I always watch football,” he said. “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 my position to pick up wee bits.
“I just like the way he (Modric) 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, I'd say. He's a joy to watch.
“I was on the bench when Scotland played Croatia at Euro 2020. He was frightening that day. That’s the players you want to play against.”
Turnbull and his Celtic team mates, though, will not have any inferiority complex when they square up to Real.
They stretched their winning run to seven games on Saturday when they thrashed Rangers 4-0 at home in the cinch Premiership and the playmaker has confidence their high tempo style of play will work at the highest level in Europe.
“Everyone is full of confidence,” he said. “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 likes 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 up the pitch and trying to win the ball back.
“You just get told to get it back into play as quickly as you can. 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. We went and scored from it. 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.
“After the game, I think we might look back on it and think it was a great experience. Obviously, it’s a great game, one you grow up wanting to play in them.
“But going into it, we’ll treat it as another one and, like I said, just try to play our football.”
It has taken Celtic five long years to get back into the Champions League group stages – but Turnbull will not be content for the Parkhead club just to make up numbers.
“We want to go there and give every game our best shot and try to get the results we need,” he said.
“If that was to qualify us through the group, that would be a massive achievement. It’ll be good to get it started on Tuesday and kick on from that.”
Turnbull got in on the goals against Rangers after replacing Matt O’Riley in the second-half when goalkeeper Jon McLaughlin passed the ball straight to his feet.
The former Motherwell man was as surprised as he was delighted to receive such a gift.
“I was just buzzing that it fell to me,” he said. “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.”
