It became something of a love-in between Georgios Samaras and Celtic yesterday. This myth-laden football club in Glasgow's East End has previous in terms of making players or managers slightly drool at the Celtic story, and it didn't take much prompting yesterday to get Samaras talking in terms that would have had a Celtic PR guru weeping with joy.

The Greece , whose sometimes awkward, gangling style hasn't made him everyone's cup of tea, is currently in one of his fits of form that made Manchester City shell out £6million to sign him from Heerenveen two years ago. That outlay was subse-

quently ridiculed around the pubs of Manchester as Samaras flopped at City, though life at Celtic, as he attested lyrically yesterday, appears to be making up for it.

Having scored five goals in his last three matches, it would require bravery on Gordon Strachan's part to omit Samaras from his starting line-up against Aalborg this evening in the Champions League. The striker, meanwhile, says he is well out of Manchester City, and blithely places Celtic above his former club in football's pecking order, despite the invading millions being brought by the Abu Dhabi Group for Development and Investment. In football, it is always refreshing to hear players slightly trash their former clubs.

“Celtic is a bigger club,” Samaras said. “You can only imagine how many supporters we have around the world. Every game you play against Manchester United or Villarreal or Motherwell is played before a full house of 60,000 people. Celtic is not just a football club, it is more than that.

“I'm really happy here and I believe that I've made the right step in my career. The important thing is not the money, it's the mentality of the club. The passion here is unbelievable. I realised that during the Barcelona game [last season]. The atmosphere was crazy and I thought to myself, ‘where in this world can you find a better atmosphere?'

“Manchester City might spend a lot of money but if you don't have the right mentality, it is pointless. You cannot buy the heritage and tradition and mentality that Celtic has.”

Samaras's two goals against Motherwell on Saturday may well guarantee him a starting place this evening, though he says he is not a player to rest on his laurels. At times the striker's style does not seem one of wholehearted engagement but he denied that he is casual or carefree about his football.

“It has been a good start for me this season but I'm not stopping here - I want to keep working hard in training to score more goals and take more points for the team,” Samaras said. “To be honest, sometimes when the game is finished and I go back to the dressing-room I feel that I've had a really good game. But on Saturday nights I go home and see the games on television and I say to myself, ‘I can do more'.

“I'm never happy with myself, I am always looking for more - a better pass, a better run, a better finish. Every day I try to improve myself and try to work on my weaknesses to get better. I never stop working to improve.”

The striker admitted that his career had stalled at City and that, following his loan deal with Celtic last season, he wished to make the move permanent. “Of course it's not easy when you don't play for four months at Manchester City and you are in and out of the squad,” Samaras said. “It's a little strange for me because I love football and that was very difficult for me.”

“I feel like family here at Celtic and I need to promote this, because it's good for my confidence. I need to have confidence - with that I can do a lot. Psychologically, it's the most important thing for a football player.

“Everybody knows it's something special when you play here at Celtic Park in the Champions League because of the atmosphere. But I'm a football player, I like to play football. That's what matters.

Meanwhile, Gordon Strachan has refused to be drawn on how many points his team will need in group E to advance to the last 16.

“You never know, and I'm not setting the players any targets,” the Celtic manager said. “We've gone through twice with nine points and Big Alex's [McLeish's Rangers] team went through once with seven.

“Sometimes you don't go through with nine. So you really don't know. I think you just go for every game and try to win.”