Zenit St Petersburg full-back Igor Smolnikov has praised Celtic's Kieran Tierney, ahead of the two teams meeting in the Europa League this evening.
Tierney, who has been in great from in the current campaign, gave a good account of himself in the first leg of the Round of 32 tie at Celtic Park last week, with the Hoops winning the contest 1-0, courtesy of Callum McGregor’s late strike.
Smolnikov came up against Tierney on a number of occasions at Paradise and he branded the Scottish left-back a “good player with a great left foot.”
The Russian also stated that the whole Celtic team played well in the first leg as he insisted that it was a “shame” for Zenit to concede late on in the game.
“Yes he’s a good player with a great left foot”, he said in a press conference on Wednesday, when asked to rate Tierney and the Celtic team.
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“The whole Celtic team were good and played well, in the second half we improved and managed to stop them and it was a shame to lose the game towards the end.”
The match at Celtic Park was Zenit’s first competitive fixture since mid-December, owing to the winter break in Russia, but Smolnikov refused to believe that his side lacked match fitness.
“I don’t think we lacked match fitness, it was just the first match of the season and Celtic are in better form”, he continued.
“Of course it was very tough for us, but playing in front of our fans will help us tomorrow and I’m sure we will be better.”
