Laursen puts club before country

Celtic defender Ulrik Laursen would choose winning a trophy with his club over representing his country at Euro 2004.

Denmark are currently two points clear of Norway, who have an Oslo friendly with Scotland next month, in Group Two.

They are on course to reach the finals in Portugal next summer therefore, but Laursen insisted his club commitments were uppermost in his mind.

He told celticfc.net: “It would be nice, of course, but Celtic pay my wages and this is where my priorities lie.

“Playing in a competition like that is similar to playing in Europe because it is an opportunity to play against the best, but my focus just now has to be on playing well with Celtic and ensuring that there is domestic success before anything else.”

The left-sided defender missed out on medals in four competitions last season when Rangers swept the board domestically and Porto pipped the Hoops in extra time in the UEFA Cup final in Seville.

The Parkhead outfit are already preparing for the new campaign and became the first Bank of Scotland Premier League club to play a pre-season friendly.

They thrashed an amateur amalgam of players from two tiny village clubs, Kungshamn and Smogens, 7-0 in the first game of their Swedish tour.

Stanislav Varga opened the scoring in the 12th minute, Steve Guppy made it 2-0 a minute later and a three-goal half time advantage was established by a Chris Sutton strike.

The Hoops, who were not watched by manager Martin O’Neill as he has remained in the UK for a minor operation, played in an unfamiliar 4-4-2 formation.

Nine substitutions were made at the break, with Laursen one of the newcomers.

Stilian Petrov, who was wearing the captain’s armband in the absence of Paul Lambert, who was one of a number of players granted extended rest, made it 4-0 from the penalty spot just before the hour mark.

The final three goals came from substitutes David Fernandez, who bagged two, and youngster Ross Wallace, who was the 10th change in the 64th minute, replacing Jamie Smith.