Sead Haksabanovic is looking forward to sampling his first Balkan derby clash over the next couple of weeks but he is confident it won’t be a patch on the Parkhead grudge match.
The Hoops ace will be part of the Montenegro squad who will face Bulgaria on Friday before a Euro 2024 showdown with neighbours Serbia in Podgorica a few days later. It’s a mouthwatering clash between two nations who were bolted together after the breakup of the former Yugoslavia and only became separate nations in 2006.
There might not be the same bitterness between the countries are there remains in some parts of the region but Haksabanovic knows there will be plenty of spice when the Brave Falcons square up to their Balkan big brothers. The Podgorica City Stadium will be bouncing – but there are another three massive Glasgow Derby clashes on the horizon and the Celt reckons the international dust up will struggle to compete.
Haksabanovic said: “I always feel good going away, it’s a little bit of a change and the weather is mostly going to be warm there! It’s always nice to go away and see different faces and get a different energy.
“It could be quite an interesting game. It’s the first time I’ll have played against them. It is a big spell, with derbies for club and country. I look forward to it. It’s always nice playing a derby or a big game.
“I haven’t been in one with the national team but I think it’ll be good and the atmosphere will be good. How will it compare? I think the atmosphere here in Celtic Park, I don’t think you can beat that.”
The prospect of four big derbies for club and country within a few weeks has got the juices flowing for the attacker. Celts will take on Rangers at Parkhead in early April and they’ll collide again at Hampden by the end of the month in the Scottish Cup last four, which could be just a week before the final league encounter across the city.
The games will be coming thick and fast but Haksabanovic just wants to make the most of his Montenegro adventure and then get back to business. He said: “They are some big games coming up but for now I’m just focusing on the national team and trying to come back with some more confidence. What happens in the next weeks we’ll talk about that when it comes.
“Some more game time in my legs is always good. You get better with the more game time you get. Hopefully I can start one game and play 90 minutes.”
Haksabanovic doesn’t tend to need 90 minutes to make much of an impression though. The attacker has been a cameo specialist at Celtic, coming off the bench to add the finishing touches to comfortable wins or contributing late on when his side are searching for a way through.
He scored a late stunner against Hearts in recent weeks and then added another cracker in stoppage time in Saturday’s 3-1 win against Hibs. The Hoops left it late but the quality came through in the end.
Haksabanovic said: “They made it hard for us, they scored then they slowed the game down. But we managed to focus on what we should do and we did it well and got the win in the end.
“It’s very good on the pitch. We believe in the way the manager wants us to play and wants us to do things and we believe in each other because we know we have good quality. We have quality that can do something in the last minutes and maybe score a goal or make an assist. We know everyone in the team wants to do that.”
Haksabanovic is making the most of his minutes and he’s just happy to help rather than banging the manager’s door demanding a place in the starting line up. He said: “I’m not concentrating on that so much, more on just coming on and doing my best, trying to score or assist.
“That’s my game, that’s what I want to do I did it so I’m very happy.
“We have such a big squad and we can put any player out there and they will do well. It doesn’t matter if we start or if I come from the bench, we all want to play and want to show the manager we want to play and help the team.
“I’m very happy to score at home as well. I haven’t scored in an away game yet but hopefully that will come. But I’m enjoying myself here in front of our fans.”
The same could be said for striker Oh Hyeon-gyu. The big Korean frontman notched with a superb diving header to break Hibs resistance on Saturday and made just about every man in the ground feel bad about their bellies when he flashed his six pack in the celebration.
Haksabanovic has been impressed with the forward on and off the pitch. He said: “He’s a very good player. He’s scored some goals and he’s a very good player but he’s an even better guy.
“He likes talking to everyone, he has good English, he’s trying to come into the team and I think he’s very happy here. Here, as strikers we get more opportunities than my last clubs. We play in a way our strikers can get more chances to go one against one and do the stuff we like. I’m enjoying the time here, I love the way we play so I’d say here for a striker like me is very good to be here.”
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