The Hoops face the Bundesliga side later this month in the playoff round and suffered a Bundesliga blow
Sebastian Hoeness(Image: Silas Schueller/DeFodi)
Former Celtic midfielder Jackson Irvine gave his old club a masterclass about how to beat Europa League opponents Stuttgart….despite playing on through the pain barrier.
The Hoops face the Bundesliga side later this month in the playoff round, but Stuttgart’s four-game winning streak came to a shock end in Hamburg as former Hibs, Kilmarnock and Ross County veteran Irvine captained his St Pauli side to a shock 2-1 victory.
It was made all the more remarkable for the 32-year-old Australian international because he limped through the entire second half after picking up a foot injury and was only supposed to stay on for an hour.
But he played the entirety of the game and was singled out for special praise by his manager Alexander Blessin, after admitting he was thrilled to beat Celtic’s European foes.
He said: “That was certainly the toughest game of my career. We were missing so many players already so I didn’t want to add to that. If the manager didn’t take me off, I wasn’t going to substitute myself. We played Stuttgart earlier this season and they absolutely destroyed us, but we deserved to beat them there. It was a great win, especially given the run they had been on.”
(Image: Getty Images)
And Stuttgart boss Sebastian Hoeness admitted their penultimate game before facing Celtic was a bad day in the office for them. He said: “It was a disappointing afternoon for us. There’s no other way to put it. It was a hard-fought, deserved victory for St. Pauli. The strain of the last few weeks was evident in the game. We were sloppy and unfocused. We created very little for a long time; it only improved towards the end. Ultimately, St. Pauli’s victory was entirely deserved; they played with a real siege mentality.”
But Stuttgart ace Ermedin Demirovic insists the defeat was just a blip. He said: “Considering what we’ve achieved in recent weeks, we can be forgiven for a defeat. Even though we have to take some responsibility for the way we played, I see this game as a blip. And sometimes you just have to live with that.”