Why Albian Ajeti says he relishes Celtic being considered title underdogs

The flipping of favourite status for the title from Celtic to Rangers as the rivals’ results have diverged sharply in little over a week isn’t a concern for Albian Ajeti.

Celtic's Albian Ajeti at the club's last training session in Scotland before they head to Lille for Thursday's Europa League encounter (Photo by Alan Harvey / SNS Group)

As the Swiss striker prepares for the club’s Europa League encounter in Lille on Thursday, the 23-year-old maintains being rendered underdogs in the pursuit of a record 10th title is to be relished.

‘I don’t know how the other boys are feeling. But this gives me a massive motivation,” said Ajeti, speaking to the club’s television channel. “Because I know Celtic. Everyone knows Celtic. Everyone knows how dominant they’ve been in the last couple of years. It’s like another challenge now. But I’m really excited. As a team, we love this kind of challenge.”

The prospects for Neil Lennon’s men in France aren’t ranked highly on the back of Sunday’s 3-3 draw at Aberdeen that followed on from the 3-1 home loss to AC Milan and a dismal derby defeat. Ajeti, though, believes all they need is the “luck” that eluded them in their Europa League opener against the Italians last week.

‘Lille have had a brilliant start to the season and they’ve also got a very good squad,” he said. ‘But we had a very good game against AC Milan. They’re a big club but we had a good fight against them – and were a bit unlucky. I hope we get some luck on Thursday but, if we play like we did against Milan and keep the happiness high, a lot is possible.”

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