MIKAEL Lustig is uniquely qualified in this Celtic team when it comes to assessing what it takes to compile an invincible domestic season.
During his time in Norway, the Swedish right back helped Rosenborg piece together an unbeaten league campaign, a feat they had come within three matches of achieving the previous season.
As impressive as this milestone was, this is just 30 matches of the Norwegian Tippeligaen we are talking about. Lustig admits it couldn’t come close to Celtic’s class of 2016/17, should they see out the next six matches to become the first Scottish club to survive a 47-match domestic campaign since 1899 and end up with only the fourth treble in the club’s history.
“At Rosenborg, we went through a season in the league without losing,” said Lustig. “We went close the season before. We lost with three games to go. But the season after we went the whole way and to go through two full seasons with just one loss was quite impressive. You only play 30 games a season in the Norwegian league, but you still need to be focused to do it.
“There can always be a ref decision or something which can change it, but our strength this season has been to go and go and go,” he added. “It doesn’t matter if we feel as though we are struggling a wee bit, we just go on. It is about mentality. We have played a lot of games and have shown the ability to keep going. It’s difficult to do it with our games. We’ve had 41 already, but we keep going.”
When Lustig says that this is probably the best Celtic team he has ever played in even that is quite an accolade.
Having made just four league appearances in his maiden season in Scotland – he joined at the end of the Norwegian season – as Rangers took the title, the rest of his time in Scotland has been a trophy-fest.
His haul so far includes five league titles, one Scottish Cup and two League Cups and you can quietly file him in the rather large category of players who are playing as well as they ever have under Brendan Rodgers. It was his perfectly timed long pass which played in Moussa Dembele for the opening goal from Callum McGregor at Hampden Park at the weekend. “It’s hard to say if this is the best team I have played in here – the year we won the double and reached the last 16 of the Champions League, we had a really talented team, too,” he said. “But the way we play now is probably the best, though. We had good players back then as well, but the way we work together and the way we want to play is really good. We have a young team, and a couple of old lads hanging in there!”
It says something about the consistent dominance of this team that Lustig pinpoints the month of December as their form dip – a month where they won all eight of their league matches and got an away Champions League point against Manchester City. Lustig feels Celtic were more dominant against Rangers on Sunday than they were during the 5-1 win at Parkhead in September and it is hard to argue. “We know we are the better team and Rangers pretty much didn’t touch the ball once in the first half,” said Lustig. “We played really well and they couldn’t get close to us. So I don’t know who is talking about them getting closer to us.
“Ibrox on Saturday is another game, but we’re high on confidence and we will go there to do our thing and, hopefully, we are going to win that game as well. This season is far from finished for us and there is plenty to play for. Players could be missing for us on Saturday, but I think it has been a strength all season that we have been able to change.”
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