‘WE MUST REMAIN POSITIVE,’ LUSTIG

MIKAEL LUSTIG is aiming for a second successive hat-trick of domestic trophies after the embarrassing Europa League exit against Zenit St Petersburg.

The Swedish defender insists the champions can put a dismal performance behind them as they zero in on back-to-back clean sweeps – starting this afternoon against Aberdeen at Pittodrie.

With the League Cup already in the trophy cabinet, a Scottish Cup quarter-final against Morton due on Saturday and an advantage in the title race, Lustig is remaining positive.

He said: “When I first came to Celtic, we were winning maybe one trophy and weren’t always in the Champions League.

“So, of course, when you look at
 our situation at the moment, it is pretty harsh for anyone to say it is a bad season.

“We can still make a really good season out of this.

“There are many things still to 
fight for and that is what we are now going to do.”

Reflecting on Thursday’s flop, Lustig added: “I don’t know what the 
biggest disappointment was in Russia.

“Obviously, it’s never good to lose three 
goals when you play in any match.

“But it was also so hard to take because they 
did not have many
 opportunities.

“One-nil comes from one corner, 2-0 comes from a long shot and then a third goal comes from a cross.

“Over the full game, they had about four or five shots on our goal and scored three times – so, of course, that’s a hard one to take.”