McDonald wary of SPL lead talk

02 October 2009 07:21
The Parkhead club surrendered their Scottish Premier League title to Rangers last season after having a similar advantage over the Ibrox men at one stage. The Australia international, who scored the equaliser in Thursday night's 1-1 draw with Rapid Vienna - a result which kept Tony Mowbray's team bottom of Europa League Group C with one point - said: "Let's not talk about that right now, we've been there before haven't we? "One step at a time and if we were to win it would be fantastic. "We would be seven clear once again but as we know, that can be cut down very quickly. "It's a massive game against Rangers and so I don't think you need to pick yourself up for that one. "I'm sure we will be ready for it as I'm sure Rangers will be after a disappointing result in Europe against Sevilla. "It will be a big battle, so bring it on." McDonald's 20th-minute equaliser got Celtic back on track at Parkhead after Nikica Jelavic gave the visitors the lead with his third-minute strike. It was the third home game in succession that Celtic have had to fight back after losing an early goal and Greek striker Georgios Samaras admits it is a bad habit which has to be stopped. He said: "They scored from the first chance and that it something that we have to improve upon in our game. "We have to be 100 per cent focused from the first minute. "We played really well but it was a fair result and now we need to push ourselves to be better. "We have another four games in the section, it is a long way before the last group game so we will see what happens." In time-honoured fashion, Samaras insists form will count for nothing in the derby at Ibrox. He said: "Old Firm games are great games, they best I have played in during my career. "Rangers have not scored a goal in their last three SPL games and had a really bad defeat against Sevilla but everything can change. "It will be a really difficult game because they are a good team with quality players. "We know Rangers and they know us so we will see what happens." Rapid sit top of Group C with four points from two games, one more than Hamburg and Hapoel Tel Aviv but defender Ragnvald Soma offered Celtic some comfort by insisting their European run is not over just yet. He said: "It is too early to say. There are still a few games to go and we have to concentrate on our next game. "It doesn't matter how many points you have if you don't take any more. "So we have to keep playing well and get enough points to get through but as I say there are still four games to go and plenty of points to fight for. "It was a perfect start for us but unfortunately we couldn't keep the lead. "We were under a lot of pressure in the second half but we managed to keep them away from goal which was the most important thing. "We got one point and that's okay."

Source: Team_Talk