Inside the Celtic Superbowl celebrations as soaring Philadelphia Eagles lay out Champions League template
The Hoops defender was in dreamland when he woke up to find out his hometown team had claimed grid iron's top prize
Austin Trusty is looking to soar in the Champions League after watching his beloved Philadelphia Eagles win the Super Bowl.
Celtic teammate Alistair Johnston revealed his American chum was on cloud nine after the NFL showpiece in New Orleans where his side overcame the odds to deny favourites Kansas City Chiefs making it three in a row. And he’s hoping Celtic can emulate the Eagles with their own underdog story against Bayern Munich in the Champions League on Wednesday night. Johnston said: “I watched it in the morning actually.
“I am glad I didn’t stay up because the Chiefs got dog-walked, oh my goodness. I am a Cowboys fan so the Eagles are our long-standing rivals. It was a bit of a tough one.
“It could have been 40-0 at half-time. I wasn’t expecting that. Three-peat no more unfortunately for the Chiefs. But Trusty was pretty chipper in the morning. He is an Eagles fan so he was pretty happy.
Farewell to the Legend, the Icon, the King - The Lawman. In this special edition, we pay tribute to the Scottish football icon and celebrate the life and career of the man who entertained football fans wherever he played. Buy now.
"He is a Philly boy. He said he fell asleep at half-time, which is fair enough as the game was over at that point. It is probably best for us because we are going to need him. I am happy he got his rest in and the Eagles took care of business.
“Philly is a very well-known sports city. They take their sports seriously, are known for being very passionate. It is a very blue collar, working class team.
“When they won the Super Bowl a few years ago they had to put oil or lube all over all the street poles because people were climbing up them and hanging off them. They have got a little bit of Glasgow Celtic about them in some ways.
“We will see. Hopefully a couple of field goals as well. Hopefully we will keep a clean sheet like the Eagles did for so long. I’ll tell you what, if we could put up an Eagles’ scoreline I would be buzzing with that. That would be something, oh my goodness.”
Johnston knows the Super Bowl is top dog in the US but it’s no match for the Champions League. He said: “What is bigger? Man, I would have to look at the numbers on that. I am biased, I would have to say the Champions League for me.
“But back in America it literally goes, Thanksgiving, Super Bowl then Christmas. The world stops over there. The TV numbers it puts up are incredible. They are selling 30 second ads for $7m. It is insane. But that is just the American way, they are diehard about their football over there.”