The St Johnstone believes their win over the Hoops at McDiarmid Park is a help rather than a hindrance
Simo Valakari insists no one at St Johnstone is fearing the brunt of Celtic’s backlash.
The Saints boss has heard all the predictions of a pummelling as a revenge hit for that shock Premiership loss in Perth two weeks ago.
But Valakari insists that game has only filled his team full of belief they can compete with the cup holders in Sunday’s semi-final.
Celtic warmed up for the Hampden clash with a 5-1 hammering of Kilmarnock at Parkhead in the league.
Valakari said: “People will be thinking we beat Celtic at home, they’re angry now so they’ll kick our asses.
“But I see it the other way around. If they’d hammered us at home, we wouldn’t be going into this weekend with confidence. The way it’s worked out, our players know what’s possible. Of course, we know what Celtic can do to teams. You saw it last weekend.
“But we’ve shown what can happen. You will need some great saves from the keeper, you will need the defence to work properly and some luck in certain moments and when the chances come, you have to take them.
“But rather than thinking it’s not possible because we won last time, I think about it the other way. The last game gave us an understanding of what’s needed – and a feeling that we can do it.”
Brendan Rodgers insisted basement boys St Johnstone fully deserved their victory. Valakari was pleased to note the Celtic boss refusing to deflect or dig out excuses.
And that’s exactly the culture that the Finn has tried to establish with Saints since taking over in October.
But he faces a daunting task of doing the double over Rodgers as the Hoops gaffer is 13 unbeaten at Hampden, including seven Cup finals.
Valakari said: “The more you go there, the possibility of it happening maybe gets bigger. I’m not a gambling man, though, so I wouldn’t know!
“After the game a couple of weeks ago you saw why Celtic are champions. They have been ruthless this season but they didn’t look for excuses. They respected the game and looked at themselves.
“Their focus was all on what they could have done better and that’s the mindset which brings success.
“That’s the kind of mentality I want here. Always looking inside and respecting the outside.
“That’s why we respect the league position we’re in. We have put ourselves where we are and it’s up to us to get out of it.
“You have to stand tall in football and see where it takes you. We deserve to be in the semi-final; we have been strong in our cup journey.
“These chances don’t come often, playing in a semi-final at Hampden. So we have to enjoy it and play our game.”
Saints played at the National Stadium in August when lodgers Rangers won a Premier Sports Cup tie 2-0.
But in a season of much change in the Perth ranks, Sven Sprangler and Makenzie Kirk are the only likely starting survivors from that day.
Valakari said: “We had a plan to visit Hampden to let the players see it but things haven’t worked out with the game there on Saturday.
“It would have been nice to do it but it’s not possible. I haven’t been there myself so it’ll be a new experience. It’s a big pitch, maybe that’ll give us more space to play.”
“Obviously that means it will be harder to get close to Celtic’s players but let’s think positively about how it can help us too.”
