Alistair Johnston has urged his team-mates to “preserve pushing” and “not waste a single minute” within the first leg of Celtic’s Champions League play-off in opposition to Kairat Almaty on Wednesday.
The precise-back outlined the challenges of the journey for the second leg which entails a 7,000-mile spherical journey to Kazakhstan.
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“It is huge,” mentioned Johnston. “I’ve talked to the fellows that performed one other group from Kazakhstan, Astana, a number of years again and had a fairly snug lead going into that second leg, and earlier than you realize it, it could possibly get actually troublesome on the market.
“The journey, the time change, it isn’t a straightforward away day in any respect.
“You might want to be sure to’re taking full benefit at house when you could have the circumstances in your favour and have the gang on our aspect.
“That is one thing that I do not suppose is misplaced on us, being at house first. That is going to be one thing within the mentality the place, in case you get one, you have to preserve pushing and preserve pushing. It should need to be the total 90 minutes and do not waste a single minute of it.”
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Canada worldwide Johnston drew on his expertise for travelling on worldwide responsibility and mentioned: “It is not enjoyable, I will inform you that a lot, it is fairly brutal.
“It is going to be a little bit of an eye-opener, I assume, for among the European boys who’re used to their camps being somewhat hour, two-hour flight away.
“Whenever you’re crossing an ocean or 5 to eight hours of time zones, it actually provides up and makes it troublesome. We have had some journey days which have most likely added as much as about 24 hours.”
The 26-year-old scored in Celtic’s 4-1 win in opposition to Falkirk within the Scottish League Cup with a left-footed end previous former team-mate Scott Bain.
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He added: “It was form of only a left-foot swing of the pendulum, I believe I caught Bainy unexpectedly as a result of I do not suppose I’ve ever really taken a shot with my left foot earlier than.
“I will undoubtedly be giving him somewhat bit as a result of he deserves it. He was having a go at my backyard, saying that my grass was all patchy, and he is proper. I do know he is acquired a terrific backyard, so we have now somewhat little bit of a factor happening there, me and him.”