Champions League: Bhoys wary of Brattbakk return

Celtic captain Paul Lambert and manager Martin O’Neill have warned Hoops fans not to under-estimate Harald Brattbakk.

The former Celtic striker returns to Parkhead for the first time since leaving the club with his reputation tarnished.

The Norwegian is a regular scorer for Rosenborg, the team that originally sold him to Celtic and who are tonight’s visitors in the Champions League.

Brattbakk scored the goal that clinched the 1997-98 championship for Celtic by confirming a win over St Johnstone. The victory also ended Rangers’ 10-in-a-row dreams.

Yet the striker was also notorious for missing chances and was soon allowed to leave for FC Copenhagen, comparative minnows in the European game.

Henrik Larsson has already gone on record insisting that Brattbakk had been an excellent strike partner and Lambert was also in no doubt that his ex-colleague had many qualities.

He said: ‘‘Harald will be dangerous. He will always be remembered for the goal he scored that won us the league.

‘‘I think the fans will give him a good reception. He is a dangerous player and very, very quick. We will have to be on our guard.

‘‘He was a success when he came here. He did really well. To be honest, I don’t know how he did at Copenhagen but he has done well at Rosenborg.

‘‘When you play with someone, you know how good they are and he did very well for us.

‘‘He never hid. He was always in there, getting chances. It takes a big player to keep getting in the box when things are not happening for you.

‘‘He always got the chances and we will have to make sure he doesn’t do that here.’’

O’Neill admitted that he had not often seen Brattbakk play but insisted that if a striker misses chances it does not automatically mean he is a dud.

He said: ‘‘I don’t know a lot about Harald Brattbakk but I was told last week that he seemed to have had a lot of abuse for missing open chances.

"In my view, that means he had obviously got in good positions - and at some stage is going to score.

‘‘I believe there was one game against Kilmarnock when he scored four and was blamed for missing another four. I would just take the four he scored and be very happy with that.

‘‘He’s a danger in that he is very quick, he can get round the back and he did score goals in a couple of games for Copenhagen against us in pre-season.

‘‘And probably he will come here with a point to prove.’’

The Rosenborg line-up is also likely to include another face familiar to the Glasgow public - former Rangers defender Stale Stensaas.