Silence has been golden for Ange Postecoglou in terms of Celtic Treble talk.
That situation could become a lot clearer after Saturday’s visit to Hearts in the quarter-finals of the Scottish Cup. With one trophy already in the bag this season and a hefty gap at the summit of the Premiership, this weekend’s match could go a long way to determining whether a clean sweep of Scotland’s domestic silverware is truly on the cards or not.
While the manager is keen for his side to go about their business quietly, Sead Haksabanovic is more than willing to talk up his side’s chances of winning the Treble.
It’s a feat that Celtic became regularly used to in recent years, mainly under the superb guidance of Brendan Rodgers.
It’s been a couple of years since the Parkhead club last repeated the achievement, after securing an astounding four Trebles in a row. Haksabanovic can’t see many reasons why this current Celtic team can’t make their mark in the history books too.
“There is space in my cupboard for more medals because I only have one,” the Swede said with a cheeky smile on his face. “As a player, this is what we want – we want to win games, win trophies and medals. We have one so far and now we have the chance for two more.
“But we have to take it one game at a time and work hard in training because that’s where everything starts. We must stay focused and do what the manager asks of us.
“When I came to Celtic there was a winning spirit. You know how important it is at Celtic to win. You can feel it when you come in.
“Do some players struggle with that? I love it. Simple as that. You want to be the best you can be, so you need to have that mentality.”
Haksabanovic helped Celtic gain another step closer to retaining their Premiership title on Wednesday night. The 23-year-old cut inside from the left wing and unleashed a brilliant curling effort past the helpless Zander Clark in the Hearts goal. The strike was superbly executed, as the winger added some gloss to Celtic’s 3-1 win over Robbie Neilson’s side.
Although, it would be fair to say that the former Rubin Kazan player hasn’t featured as much as he would’ve liked this season. Injuries have obviously played a factor in that.
He’s made 28 appearances in al competitions, but the vast majority of these have been from the bench. With his limited game time in mind, his numbers are pretty reasonable with four goals and four assists in his time on the pitch.
The attacker insists he always knew he’d have to bide his time. He hopes now he can gradually improve his minutes in Postecoglou’s side.
He said: “It was on my mind to shoot. I knew before I got the ball I was going to go inside and try to score.
“I was very happy with the goal. I have been getting closer. I was close a couple of times against Rangers and now I have scored. Hopefully now I can keep doing it.
“I’ll take it one game at a time and it doesn’t matter if I get five minutes, get half an hour or I start, I want to do my stuff and show that I want to play in this team.
“I’m just going out there and enjoying myself, and I think I showed that on Wednesday. I want to play every game. I’m not going to say I don’t want to play. But I also know we have great players in this team. If I don’t play, then I don’t play, but I know I am going to focus on coming in. I have to be ready for when I start.
“The key at the moment is this is a young squad and everyone wants to get their chance to prove themselves.
“We all know we can put any player out there and they will do great. Whoever starts is up to the manager. We just want to do our work and show what we can do on the training ground and on the pitch.”
It can take time for foreign players to settle into a new country, understandably so. Haksabanovic is enjoying life in Glasgow, though, insisting he has great support from his fellow teammates and family.
He added: “It’s been very nice. I am good with the boys, we can go out for dinner sometimes and I can have my girlfriend here and family over. So it’s been good. I am used to living away from home, so it’s very chilled.
“After training, I’m mostly taking it easy because we train hard. But I am enjoying Glasgow.”
