SCOTT BROWN may not be renowned for the goalscoring prowess he showed when bagging a double in Celtic’s win over Hibs at the weekend, but his teammates will be looking for him to exhibit his more recognised qualities when they take to the field in Rome.

Boli Bolingoli says that the Celtic captain’s leadership will be crucial in Thursday night’s game against Lazio, with Brown setting the tone and settling any nerves among his colleagues.

“He’s a leader, and he showed that again on Saturday,” Bolingoli said.

“He plays well in every game and if you see a player like this on your side then you want to go for it.

“He makes you feel really comfortable on the pitch, and it’s good to have a player like that on the field that controls the game and the team.

“Hopefully he can get two goals again in Rome! But for me, it doesn’t matter who scores, I just hope that we can win this game and get a better position in the Europa League, because I want to continue in this competition after the New Year.”

Bolingoli has his own experiences in Italy to fall back on too as he looks to help his side to another famous and hugely important result.

“I’ve played in Italy before in the Europa League last season, I played against Inter Milan with Rapid Wien,” he said.

“It is always a nice experience to play against an Italian team, so I can’t wait to go back there.

“Lazio are also one of the biggest teams in Italy, so let’s see what we can do there.

“Serie A is a good level of competition, but we just try to focus and get the three points that will keep us top of the group and in a good position.

“It will be a tough game, but we go with the mind-set of getting these three points.”