SLOVAN Bratislava manager Vladimir Weiss Snr has vowed to try and mastermind another shock Champions League result against Celtic along with his Rangers fan son Vladimir Jnr at Parkhead tomorrow evening.
Weiss Snr was in charge of Slovakian minnows Artmedia Bratislava when they thrashed their Scottish rivals 5-0 in the first leg of the second qualifying round in 2005 and then recorded a 5-4 aggregate victory en route to the group stages.
The vastly-experienced coach’s Slovan men have come through four qualifiers this season and are not expected to cause the Glasgow club too many difficulties in their league phase opener in the East End this evening.
However, the 59-year-old knows from personal experience that upsets can and do happen at the very highest level in Europe and believes he has figured out how to cause Brendan Rodgers’ charges problems.
“That was a long time ago,” he said when he was asked about the Artmedia triumph over Celtic. “Of course, there are nice memories and nobody will take them away from you. But now we are up against a different Celtic. “They play a different style of football to 19 years ago. Brendan has a different type of football here, very fast. But we are capable of doing that as well. We will put in our best performance.
“We know what we can expect. We have players who have played here and they know about the atmosphere. Many other players have said that this is really the best atmosphere in the world you can experience. But I think we have enough experience not to give in to that atmosphere, not to make mistakes.
“Of course, we know that most of the game we will be under pressure. Because obviously, just like we get the energy and emotions from our fans, Celtic will get their energy from their fans. So you have to have the self-confidence, but also the discipline.”
Weiss Snr added: “When I joined Slova, I wanted to prove something and I am happy that we managed to do that maybe even earlier than I thought. But after three years of working with the team to get into the main stage of the Champions League, I am very proud of the team, of the players and of the fans.
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“Because Slova have evolved. We have brought joy to the fans and the fans have come back to the stadium. And this is the biggest motto of our work. I think the players deserve to be here. We have not come here as tourists.
“It's a different kind of a model of the Champions League. We will try to snatch some points, maybe one point, maybe surprise them. Everything is possible in football. We have proved it many times and we have seen what is possible to do. We are very happy, and are looking forward to it.
“We will want to show our fighting spirit, our pride, and show what we are made of. It's the Champions League, it's the best teams in the world. It's like the club World Cup. You have to be excited about it. And we can always surprise people.
“They are fast and they have great quality. We know where we can surprise them. If we manage to do that, if we manage to break their good defence, if we manage to win one-on-one duels, then it's going to be good.”
His father revealed the winger has continued to support them since leaving and is looking forward to returning to the venue where he helped Walter Smith’s team record a 3-1 triumph 14 years ago.
“All our lives we've been talking about Celtic and Rangers,” he said. “My son played for Rangers and he's a fan. He's a Rangers fan and tomorrow he will face Celtic, their biggest arch rival. “When he was here at Rangers, they won the double. So he has the best memories. And the derby with Celtic is the best. It's the top. He had a great time and tomorrow he will play Celtic again. But tomorrow he will be playing Celtic again for Slovan and we'll see how it goes.”
