Diego factor is a boost to Caldwell

Published on Friday 21 November 2008 08:55

GARY CALDWELL is enjoying every minute of a massive few days for both club and country.

The Celtic defender faced one of the best teams in the world when Scotland hosted Diego Maradona's Argentina in a friendly at Hampden on Wednesday, going down 1-0.

After St Mirren in the Clydesdale Bank Premier League at the weekend the focus then turns to Europe, with the Hoops looking to end a horrendous run of results away from home in the Champions League when they travel to Danish champions Aalborg.

"It's just a case of resting now and trying to recover going into Saturday's game," said Caldwell, who has no fears about coping with a gruelling schedule. "Then we have to do the same for next week in the Champions League. It's a busy time but I would rather be playing in all of these big games than watching them."

Caldwell is hoping coming up against the likes of Carlos Tevez can only stand him in good stead in Denmark on Tuesday.

He added: "When you are playing against the best players in the world on a regular basis it does make you better.

"You learn a lot and, if you can put that into practice, it helps you in games like this."