PADDY ROBERTS is an admitted fan of Dutch wing ace Arjen Robben.
The on-loan Celtic star will get the opportunity to show his hero how he can perform on the Champions League stage when the Hoops take on Bayern Munich in the Allianz Arena tomorrow night.
Roberts has followed Robben’s career and, like the former Chelsea and Real Madrid flanker, he favours coming in from the right wing onto his left foot.
The 20-year-old English star now has the opportunity to overshadow the 33-year-old attacker who announced his international retirement only a week ago after Holland’s failure to reach the World Cup Finals in Russia in summer.
Roberts said: “I have always enjoyed the way he comes inside and shoots.
“I’ve tried to emulate that since he was at Chelsea and I was only a young boy, to come in and shoot like that.
“Players such as Robben put in the hard work in training throughout the years and that is why they are on the biggest stage in club football.
“Hopefully, one day that can be me, but I need to keep practising my technique.”
Roberts thumped in the crucial second goal in Brendan Rodgers’ side’s 3-0 victory over Anderlecht in Brussels last month and he insisted these encounters are a massive reason why he wanted to return to Glasgow’s East End on another loan spell from Manchester City.
He added: “That win just showed our quality and our intent this year, particularly after the first game.
“You might have thought it was the same as last year, but we had that mentality not to let that happen again.
“We have a great bunch of quality players and we knew we could go and get a good result in Belgium.
“We did that, we played our normal game which I didn’t really expect, but we did. To go there and score three goals was top drawer and we will take that into our next games.
“We will see how the game pans out. The first thing is to go out there with a strong mindset and, hopefully, the game pans out and we can get a good result.
“I’ve never played there before. It will be a brilliant and different experience in Munich. I’m look forward to it.”
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NEW CQN PODCAST – A Celtic State of Mind is available to enjoy now. Paul Dykes speaks to Celtic writer David Potter about the Invincible season and even sings a song for us!
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