Sviatchenko on life at Paradise and missing Europa League

Erik Sviatchenko played in his first game at Paradise on Saturday, and isn’t concerned about missing out on his former team’s European adventure.

The 24-year-old’s move to Celtic last month for a fee of £1.5 million has prevented him from playing against Manchester United this week in the last-32 of the Europa League.

His former team, FC Midtjylland are eyeing up the Premier League but the Danish international isn’t bothered about missing out on the biggest fixture in their 17-year history.

As quoted by the Daily Mail, he said:

Do I wish I was playing Manchester United this week? No, no. I’ve not thought for any second about that. I’m just happy for my former team-mates that they will play that big game.

It’s a huge game for FC Midtjylland but I’m here enjoying Paradise. It never really entered my head that I was turning down the chance to play in this game by joining Celtic.

Sviatchenko has made four appearances in the green and white Hoops so far, and got his first assist against Aberdeen earlier this month.

After his debut at Celtic Park on Saturday, Sviatchenko is ready to kick on and win another league title, adding to the Danish title he lifted last season.

We will do our best and I believe we can do it. For me, it’s important to play every game and be ready. It is about adapting physically and I’m just focusing on playing my football.

I knew we had to win every game. Sometimes, back in Denmark, it is OK when you are leading 1-0 but here we have to do better. I also want that.

It was good to win against Ross County. A 2-0 result is a good start, although the game was up and down. The first half was worse than the second, but overall they didn’t create much and we had many chances.

I think it’s very obvious that in every title race — if there is a title race — that everyone wants to keep track of each other.

The Danish centre-back also spoke about his time researching Celtic before the move, and the reference to Paradise suggests he has been diligent.

I like to read a little bit about Celtic, so I’m teaching myself. Obviously, it’s a club with a massive history, so it’s easy to get information.

I did my research well and some of the values Celtic have, like wanting to improve everything, to optimise things. That’s also something I stand for and so far it’s a good match.

Sviatchenko will hope to line-up for Celtic again on Saturday at Paradise when Celtic take on Inverness Caledonian Thistle.