Celtic captain Scott Brown will not use Lazio heroics as an excuse should Hoops suffer away day blues again

Scott Brown has warned his team-mates no excuses will be accepted should they fall short at Pittodrie today.

Neil Lennon’s side have dropped five points from their last two away games, drawing 1-1 against Hibs at Easter Road before crashing to defeat at Livingston.

Those results have allowed rivals Rangers to draw level at the top of the Premiership, with the Light Blues having the easier-looking of this weekend’s fixtures, at home to Motherwell.

However, having led the current champions to a dramatic comeback Europa League victory against Lazio last Thursday, Brown is no mood to concede further ground in Celtic’s bid to clinch nine-in-a-row.

“We couldn’t go any further away than Aberdeen, but we need to do it because, domestically, this is huge for us,” he said of the latest Pittodrie meeting.

“It is going to be hard going up there. It always is because they turn it into a battle.

“They also try to get the ball down as well, which is what you expect when you are going to any away ground.

“Plus, of course, they had a great result against Motherwell last weekend when they went to Fir Park and won 3-0.

“I watched the game. They changed a couple of players around – moving a couple of defenders into midfield – and looked a bit more structured for it.

“They have a good team, with Sam Cosgrove, who scored a great goal against Motherwell, a definite threat up front.

“But we need to go there and deal with it, and make no excuses.

“Thursday-Sunday turnarounds are something we have had to deal with for a while. It was the same last season when we were in the Europa League beyond Christmas.

“Of course, ideally we would not have such a quick turnaround because we would be in the Champions League and playing earlier in the week, but we didn’t make it.

“As it was, we had a day off on Friday so we have to rest and try to recover so that we are fresh and ready for Sunday.

“That is important because we need to make sure we go up there and dominate the ball and create the chances, as we know we can do.”

Envious opposition managers routinely refer to the depth of Celtic’s squad, and Brown admits he fully expects to see changes made to the line-up that started against Lazio.

“There will be freshness. I am sure the gaffer will be thinking about that,” said the 34-year-old.

“But whoever plays needs to go out there and get three points.

“This game is huge for us.

“The league is our bread and butter, and we need to make sure we dominate the league in terms of creating chances and scoring goals.

“And we need to maintain that kind of form. It is about the pressing and energy of the lads, whichever ones are picked for any particular test.

“We kept going until the 94th minute against Lazio on Thursday, and we looked the fitter team.

“I don’t think there are a lot of times we have said that against top-quality opposition, that we looked the fitter team.

“We could have played an extra ten minutes there, and the lads have that belief in themselves.”

While Celtic have options all over the park, Brown argues they are especially strong in the goalkeeping position.

“We have great competition there, with three lads – Fraser Forster, Craig Gordon and Scott Bain – all vying for the number one spot,” he said.

“At the moment, Fraser is the man in possession and, as you saw against Lazio, he is doing everything he can to keep the jersey.

“I don’t think anyone has seen a save like the one he pulled off against Danilo Cataldi for a long time. It was just unbelievable.

“The stop before it (from Marco Parolo) was a great effort as well.

“So, thanks to his quality, we have been able to come out on top against what was a very strong European side.

“We have to put that off to one side now, as it will take all our focus to get the result we want from Aberdeen.”