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Jul 12, 2011   |  8:18PM AET

Leijer excited by Celtic test

Leijer excited by Celtic test

Melbourne Victory captain Adrian Lejier sees Wednesday night’s friendly with Celtic at AAMI Park as a golden opportunity to gauge themselves against a world-class team.

Melbourne Victory captain Adrian Lejier sees Wednesday night’s friendly with Celtic at AAMI Park as a golden opportunity to gauge themselves against a world-class team.

Leijer believes the high-profile date with the Scottish giants will present a great test of where Victory are at.

“It’s always a learning curve, the best place to learn is against high-quality teams,” Leijer said on Tuesday.

“It is a good eye-opener for people, especially for [our] youngsters… [It] gives them a little taste of what it’s like in Europe.”

“A lot of them have dreams to play in Europe and test [themselves] against high-quality players who play week-in, week out in Europe.”

Victory’s preparations for the glamour friendly have been limited, with the club only returning back for pre-season on July 4.

While conceding the game may have arrived early, Leijer is nonetheless excited about the challenge and confident Victory will put on a good show.

“We have to be realistic about the way we’re going to play, it’s nowhere near our best, but I’m confident in the boys,” Leijer said.

“It is important [from] day one in a new season to go out and perform well.”

Leijer highlighted the changing shift in Australian football that clubs of Celtic’s standing derive benefits from playing A-League opposition.

“Years ago you would see the big teams come out and they would be playing against the Socceroos,” Leijer said.
“Now big teams are coming out and playing against club teams in Australia.”

“That speaks volumes for the league, how far it’s come and how much respect it’s starting to get worldwide.”

From a personal perspective, the defender played down his likely matchup with Celtic’s star striker Georgios Samaras.

“Obviously you show him a bit of respect. At the end of the day, he’s a footballer, I’m a footballer, and we’ll go at it to see who comes out best,” he said.

With more than 20,000 expected for the match, a Victory win would be the ideal result, not that Leijer is looking too far ahead.

“We’re not going to go partying like we’ve won the World Cup… but if we were to beat them it would be a fantastic result and give us a lot of confidence heading into the season,” Leijer said.