Mjallby fancies Finland

Saturday, July 26, 2003 - 02:33 PM

Celtic defender Johan Mjallby is hoping for a return to Helsinki as the Hoops attempt to book their place in the Champions League.

Martin O’Neill’s men must see off the challenge of Lithuanian outfit Kuanas before taking on either MTK Hungaria or HJK Helsinki in the third qualifying round.

Success in both those games would mean entry into the lucrative group stages of the competition, which Celtic missed out on last year when they were defeated by underdogs FC Basle – even though that led to their UEFA Cup run which took them all the way to the final.

Celtic have already dumped Helsinki out of Europe before – two years ago to progress to the second round of the UEFA Cup – and Mjallby admits he would prefer another trip to Finland rather than venture into the unknown.

He said: “The problem for me is that I don’t know much about the Hungarian team, so at this moment I would say that I would prefer to play Helsinki.

“It’s only a couple of seasons since we played them, after all, and it always helps when you know something about the team you’re going to play.

“That’s usually the way anyway, and I think most of the boys would probably agree with me. We have to get through against Kaunas first, though, and then we will have to see which of the teams are the strongest.”

Celtic suffered defeat in the away leg the last time the two teams met but a Chris Sutton goal allowed them to progress to the next round.

But Mjallby reckons the experience gained from last season’s UEFA Cup run will make all the difference should the two clubs meet again.

He told the club’s official website, www.celticfc.co.uk: “It was a tough game for us.

“I remember that, having won 2-0 at home, we slipped up a wee bit when we played them away and needed Chris to score late on to put us through. It was a hard night for us, no doubt about that.

“But we are so much more experienced now in Europe than we were then, and we have gained a lot from the matches we have played in the Champions League and UEFA Cup over the last two seasons. Because of that, I would fancy our chances.”

Celtic’s players received a boost before next week’s Champions League qualifier as their pre-season tour of the United States ended with a 1-0 win over Boca Juniors in Cleveland.

Having been beaten 4-0 by Manchester United earlier in the week, Sutton settled a scrappy game in the 59th minute after a sweet one-two with Shaun Maloney. The match saw nine yellow cards and the sending off of Boca’s Jonathan Fabbro.