We will win in Sweden insists Bitton

Nir Bitton has hit out at those who criticised their performance in their first-leg win over Malmo at Celtic Park.

Berget’s injury time goal leaves Celtic in a precarious position, but that shouldn’t take away from the Hoops performance according to Bitton.

As reported by the Scotsman, the midfielder said:

If we try to go to Malmö and play for a draw, it would not be a good thing for us to do. So we just need to think about winning the game over there and that is what we will do.

Everybody saw on Wednesday night who is the better team. I hope we will show that again on Tuesday. Do I believe we can do it? Of course I believe that.

This is the stage for us to go and show our character. This is the stage for us to show who we are and what we can achieve. So now it is up to us and I hope we can now go out there and do it.

If Celtic had held on to a 3-1 win and didn’t concede the goal for sloppy defending and not marking Berget, the Hoops would have been hailed for their performance. But one corner changed the entire complexion on how Celtic are viewed to have played according to Bitton.

The end of the game on Wednesday was not what we wanted but everyone seems to be forgetting that we still have the advantage in the tie. Of course, there is a very big difference between winning 3-1 and winning 3-2, but it must be remembered that we are still winning.

We need to go to Sweden and play our own game. We need to do the same things that we did in the first half at Celtic Park and we will go through.

The Israeli international has been instrumental for Celtic alongside Scott Brown since growing into the role after utility man Charlie Mulgrew faced a period on the sidelines with a knee injury last season. And the 24-year-old hasn’t looked back since, scoring one of Celtic’s three goals on Wednesday night putting in another solid performance.

Reflecting on the game Bitton said:

Looking at the whole game, we could have finished it earlier. When we were leading 2-0, we conceded the first goal to Malmo from out of nowhere. That gave them some confidence at that point of the match, but we didn’t let that affect us and went on to score a third goal. That was very important to us, but to concede in the last minute was not great.