DAVID TURNBULL is relishing the thought of going toe to toe with Real Madrid’s masterful midfielder Luka Modric.
The Croatian superstar will be in the holders’ engine room in the Champions League showpiece at a sell-out Parkhead tomorrow night.
And Turnbull, scorer of the fourth goal in the weekend blitz on their Ibrox opponents, is hoping to get the nod from Ange Postecoglou to get into the thick of the action.
The nearest the stylish playmaker has got to Modric was a place on the Scotland substitutes’ bench as the mini marvel shredded Steve Clarke’s team in the 3-1 Euro 2020 confrontation at Hampden last year.
AIR WE GO…Luka Modric celebrates his strike against Scotland at Hampden in June last year with future Celt Josip Juranovic about to congratulate his Croatia team-mate.
Callum McGregor’s strike for his country was a mere consolation that evening which saw new boss Postecoglou watching from the stand just a couple of weeks after his appointment.
Modric was the puppetmaster in Glasgow and left David Marshall helpless when he claimed a classy second goal to propel his nation to a well-earned victory.
Awestruck Turnbull admitted the midfielder “was frightening” in that match.
Asked what he admired most about the former Spurs player, the Hoops star answered: “Just the way he plays. He’s calm on the ball, very technical and has great control and passing.
“It’s my position, as well. It’s just everything about him. That’s the players you want to play against.
FOURMIDABLE…David Turnbull is congratulated by Giorgos Giakoumakis after netting the fourth goal against the Ibrox visitors at Parkhead in the weekend romp.
“It’ll be great to come across and up against them. I have watched them for years and admired how they play. It’ll be exciting.
”I always watch football. It’s always on in the house. I just try to take as much as I can from these types of players and watch people in your position. Pick up wee bits.”
Postecoglou will not compromise his ideals and how he expects his players to perform and Turnbull, speaking to the Daily Record, added: “He’s drilled into us from day one the way he wants to play and that won’t change for anyone.
“Going into any game, that’s what we want to do. We don’t want to sit back against any team. We want to go out and play our football whether it is Real Madrid or whether it was Ross County during last week. We want to be the same.
“I don’t think we’ll change. We’ll go into the game full of confidence and play our own game.
“Whether it works or it doesn’t, we will still play that way and, hopefully, it does work.”
