Celtic’s creditable draw in their opening Champions League game simply underlined to Barry Smith how tough the trip to Glasgow is going to be but that won’t stop the Dark Blues manager from having a right go at the SPL champions.
While many teams have been overcome by the fear factor at Parkhead in the past, Smith will return to his former club having joined Dundee from the Hoops back in 1995 aiming to try to win the game, and insists such a result is not outwith the realms of possibility.
”Celtic playing in Europe is different from playing in the Premier League and I actually think it was a very good result playing against Benfica and getting a 0-0 draw,” Smith said.
”Benfica are an experienced European club, they’ve got a lot of experienced players that have played in Europe before and a result like that shows the quality that Celtic have got.
”They have had a couple of blips but they are blips, so from our point of view we’ve got to believe we can go there and a get a result. Although they are a quality team we’ve got to believe we can go there and take something from the game and the players will be set up to do just that.
”We will be going there to be nice and positive and enjoy the experience of playing at Celtic Park. We’ve got a lot of players that are forward-minded and we need to use that.
”Nobody expects us to do anything at Parkhead so for us there’s no pressure. It’s a case of going and giving a good account of ourselves. We can still go out and play, although the one thing you can’t do at Celtic Park is be overawed.”
Smith will be hoping his players can repeat the kind of performance they put on against Hearts, when his side went to Tynecastle against all the odds and returned with a 1-0 win.
”It’s how people react to circumstances,” he said. ”It can be intimidating at Celtic. Tynecastle is intimidating, the crowd is right on top of you but we handled it well and I’ve got full belief we can handle Celtic Park well.
”I don’t think we raised our game at Tynecastle, we were just fully focused for the full 90 minutes and we didn’t have a lapse in concentration at any point.
”If we did we didn’t get punished for it, so it’s about maintaining that standard and not allowing a lapse in concentration.
”The slightest lapse can cost you and we want to get that out of our game, and I’m sure we will. But it doesn’t matter what game it is, at Celtic Park or wherever, we can’t be as nave as what we’ve been.”
Smith will be without the likes of Davide Grassi and Stephen O’Donnell through injury, while Lewis Toshney will also be missing due to the terms of his loan agreement with Celtic.