Strachan gives hair claim the brush-off
Russian folklore states that red-haired people, relatively uncommon in the country, are supposed to be ‘lucky’.
The Scottish champions will face the Premier-Liga leaders on the Luzhniki Stadium’s artificial pitch tomorrow night, looking for an encouraging result to take back to Celtic Park for the return match on August 29.
However, Strachan laughed at the notion of his hair colour playing a part in the result and insisted it would be “good players” who decide the tie.
The Celtic boss said: “You get special luck (in Russia)?
“In Britain we just get abused!”
Luck has already deserted Strachan on the goalkeeping front as the Celtic boss confirmed that number one Artur Boruc, who has missed the start of the season with a shoulder injury, is ruled out of the first-leg tie. But the Celtic boss admits his side are in for a tough test against Spartak who went five points clear at the top of the table after a 2-0 win over Krylya Sovetov.
He said: “They are a good side, with good players and they won comfortably at the weekend.
“It will be a close tie and hopefully good players will decide the tie.”
The Hoops reached the last 16 of the tournament last season before being put out by eventual winners AC Milan in extra-time at the San Siro.
Strachan believes the experience will prove beneficial over the two games.
He said: “We learned a lot from last year so I’m very confident that we can go and do smashing things as a group.”
Meanwhile, Spartak, who have sold 23,000 tickets so far for the visit of the Scottish champions, are in trouble with the Russian football authorities after their fans unfurled a banner with a racist slogan on it during their match against Krylya Sovetov.
The Moscow team will discover their fate today and it is likely that a fine will be imposed, with the possibility of the club playing at least one league game behind closed doors.
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