Laursen: I'm missing out

Celtic’s jinxed defender Ulrik Laursen revealed today that he does not feel part of the club’s success this season.

They are five points clear in the Bank of Scotland Premier League and on the verge of a place in the Champions League knock-out stages.

But while his team-mates go from strength to strength the former Hibernian favourite has been feeling like an outsider.

Laursen has not kicked a ball for the first team this season after being struck down by medial ligament damage and then flu.

But he is fighting back to full fitness and is desperate to make up for lost time and emerge from the lengthy depression.

He admitted: “It hasn’t been the best time for me over the last few months but when you come to a big club like Celtic then you know that there will never be any guarantees.

“I would probably say that this season I’ve had the kind of campaign that I would have expected last year and vice versa, but there hasn’t been a time yet this season where I could have gone to the manager and said that I was absolutely 100%.

“When the team are playing as well as they are it also makes it very difficult to get into the side.

“The team have done excellently so far this season and long may that continue.

“However, when the lads who are playing are winning crucial games and the team are doing so well there is a real high and when you’re not playing you don’t really feel part of it.

“That’s just the way it is in football that when you’re winning and playing you’re on top of the world, but when you’re struggling with injury or not playing you’re pretty down.

“Now I need to focus on getting back into training and pushing to get my fitness and sharpness up.

“Once I do that I can start aiming for a place in the team again.”