Forward Leigh Griffiths insists Celtic have learned from their past mistakes as they prepare for the first leg of their Champions League play-off round tie against Hapoel Be’er Sheva.
The Hoops have not made through to the the group stage of Europe’s premier club competition in three years and have fallen at the final hurdle in each of the last two seasons.
A 2-1 aggregate loss to Maribor in 2014 was followed by a 4-3 defeat to Malmo 12 months ago but Griffiths insists his side have learned from their previous failings.
“The boys are still hurting from the last two years but we have drawn a line under that now and we need to go forward,” the Scotland forward said.
“We spoke about what happened before but they are gone now and obviously we’ve got a different manager now.”
Brendan Rodgers’ men are looking to right the wrongs of the past two seasons when they take on the Israeli champions, with the first leg taking place at Celtic Park on Wednesday night.
Griffiths insists the Bhoys know what to expect from Hapoel after being brought up to speed on them by Celtic’s Israel international Nir Bitton.
Griffiths added: “We’ve watched videos of them. We know their strengths, we know their weaknesses, but it is up to us to go and exploit that.”
Celtic are available at 1.62 to secure victory while Hapoel are on offer at 6.00 and the draw is priced at 3.75.
Leave a comment
Link Dafabet