AC MILAN star Urby Emanuelson fears old pal Derk Boerrigter will ruin his Champions League debut. The Dutch full-back is looking forward to meeting up with his former Ajax youth team-mate when Celtic visit the San Siro on Wednesday night. However, in the back of his mind, he is aware that friendship could be destroyed during 90 minutes in northern Italy. Celtic boss Neil Lennon will have seen a weakness in the Milan defence in the wider areas during his weekend spying mission to Turin – where Milan drew 2-2 with Torino – with Emanuelson and right-back Cristian Zaccardo on the other side charging forward to leave the centre-backs exposed. James Forrest, Georgios Samaras, Kris Commons and Boerrigter are all options for a role on the flanks. And Emanuelson reckons that if it is his countryman who gets the call he could have big problems. Boerrigter had his best game for the Scottish champions since signing against Hearts at the weekend and Emanuelson said: “There have been a lot of changes in the Celtic team since last season when they did well in the Champions League “But, of course, I know players such as Samaras, who had a long time playing well in Holland with Heerenveen. “I also know that some Dutch players went to Celtic in the summer, such as Virgil van Dijk and especially Derk. “I played alongside Derk in the Ajax youth team. When he made it into the first team there it was at the same time I was leaving Amsterdam. “Derk is a very good player and his pace is incredible. He’s very fast and also has a good cross at the end of the runs. “If he plays against us he is a player to be watched. The Champions League and Celtic is a chance for Derk to grow as a player. “He started well at Ajax but he got injured and then things began to become a little bit difficult for him. “I’m happy for him that he now has the chance to be playing for a big team in the Champions League.” Emanuelson can’t wait for the arrival of Celtic, with his big chance coming due to a massive injury list facing manager Masimiliano Allegri. He has never played in the group stages, making his bow in Europe’s premier competition during the play-off against PSV Eindhoven. Emanuelson looks a stick-on to start at left-back and reckons a spell in the English Premiership will do wonders for his performance against the Hoops. The 27-year-old spent half of last term at Fulham under Martin Jol and the 13 appearances south of the border has given him a taste of what to expect this week. Emanuelson said: “Playing in England was great. There is a big difference to Italy and it helped my career. “I had a good time in London and was happy with how things went but I wanted to come back to Milan. “My time in the Premiership made me a better player because it was a different style of football that I had to work on. “Having experience of that British style should help me against Celtic because they will play like the English clubs. “They have such a good and close team that it will be a difficult game.” Emanuelson, meanwhile, is among a list of players who need to perform in that difficult game. Serie A has not started well for the Milan giants with just one win from their opening three games. Coach Allegri slaughtered the work of Emanuelson and his backline colleagues in the aftermath of the weekend draw. Having also shipped another two goals at Verona on the opening day they have now conceded five in three outings. Famed for staunch defending in the past, the current crop of Milan defenders are under the spotlight to do their jobs properly. Lennon left Turin knowing his team could get at AC, just as Torino did. Emanuelson accepts that his side will have to solidify for the visit of Celtic but is confident they will come good on Wednesday night. He said: “It is not good for the team that we miss many defenders. “I play on the left side and we do have cover so it’s more the right side that we have an issue. “We miss Ignazio Abate and Mattia De Sciglio so our defence is weakened. “We don’t feel pressure because of that but we do feel pressure simply because AC Milan is a big club and always have to win. “That is what we have to do, starting with the match against Celtic.” HH/dale
Posted on: Mon, 16 Sep 2013 14:27:52 +0000
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