Celtic v Ferencvaros – Colby Donovan insists Celtic will put derby disappointment behind them
The 20-year-old has enjoyed a rapid rise at Parkhead, making 37 first-team appearances since breaking through last August, and was rewarded when new Scotland boss Sebastian Pocognoli selected him for the upcoming Nations League fixtures against Slovenia, Switzerland and North Macedonia.
Donovan revealed Pocognoli personally called him before the squad was announced.
“The manager actually phoned me the day before the squad came out,” Donovan said via TCW. “We just spoke and he said how he wanted me to play and stuff like that.
“He told me I’d get my opportunity. So I knew before that and then I saw the squad come out, I was even more buzzing that it was actually going to happen.
“There were a lot of people asking me about it, but I kind of just put it to the back of my mind and tried to focus on what I’ve got to do at the club.
“Hopefully I go there and he gives me an opportunity to show what I can do. Going away, there are four games, so hopefully I get my chance.”
Donovan will have a familiar face alongside him in Kieran Tierney, who has become an important mentor since returning to Celtic.
“Kieran’s been brilliant to me since I came through. Since he came back from Arsenal, me and him have just clicked together,” Donovan said. “He’s been a big role model to me, not even just in and about Celtic, actually away from the club as well.
“We talk to each other every day, so there’s no better player to learn from coming from the academy than KT is there?
“We talk about it a lot, we’re both boys that lived and breathed Celtic. So for me to follow in his footsteps, I’ve been loving it. I just want to go on and hopefully have the career that he’s had, because he’s had an unbelievable career.
“Getting to the World Cup, I was there watching KT and he got me tickets for the game [against Denmark]. I had a weird feeling on the way, I just thought Kieran might get his chance and get on. He took it certainly well, didn’t he? He came on and scored. I was buzzing for him, obviously, but buzzing for the country as well. It was class.”
Donovan’s Celtic breakthrough almost never happened, with loan moves to Dundee and Ayr United discussed before Alistair Johnston’s injury opened the door.
“That was a mad pre-season,” Donovan reflected. “I remember that, when Ali got injured. Obviously you don’t want that to happen, but you needed a bit of luck.
“I think it was Brendan at that time, who gave me my chance, and I just kept going on and going on. I played my first Europa League game against Red Star, so it was kind of just taking wee steps.
“I was in for the full year and ended up going on to win a double, that was a dream for me to win the league for Celtic. So doing that has been class, but then coming into this season, I just wanted it to carry on.
“I didn’t want to just play one season, I want to keep going and going. When I came into this season, obviously I’ve played a good few games now, and I’m starting to get real confidence.”
His latest milestone came at Ibrox on Sunday, although his first Glasgow Derby ended painfully as Celtic suffered a 3-0 Premier Sports Cup defeat.
“We know that wasn’t us on Sunday, it wasn’t a Celtic performance,” he said. “But at times it’s going to happen.
“You’re going to get bad results, it’s happened in the past, so you need to put a buy to it. After the game I didn’t really bother with anybody, I just put my own head down and got on with it.
“That’s the good thing about being at a club like this, you’ve got a game every three days, so you need to go into the next game and make up for it. You have fans to make you happy again, so after that game I was just thinking, when’s the next one?”
Captain Callum McGregor subsequently described Celtic as looking like a “team of individuals”, an assessment Donovan agreed with when reflecting on the defensive workload.
“As Cal said it was impossible to defend with six players, that’s how it felt it was,” Donovan admitted. “It felt like Rangers were just coming at us every minute, and it was just six of us trying to defend the box. And that’s not Celtic.”
Despite the result, Martin O’Neill singled Donovan out as the one Celtic player who emerged from Ibrox with “great credit”.
“It’s always good when you hear that come from the gaffer,” Donovan said. “He’s a legend at this club, he’s seen a lot of players come and go. So when he picks me out as doing well, it’s real praise for me.
“But I know I can’t take it as I’m happy, we’ve just got beat off our fiercest rivals for my first game against them.
“You can’t enjoy it at that time, it was more just I wanted to win, that was my main thing. I didn’t really bother how I played, I’d take not playing well in every game so long as we win. But it made me feel a wee bit better.”
Donovan also explained how he managed playing most of the derby on a yellow card.
“It happened against St Mirren. I got booked in the first six minutes and it’s going to happen, it’s the way I play,” he stated. “I like to be aggressive and make contact with players, so sometimes it’s going to happen.
“It happened the past two games, but when you’re on a booking, I know how you deal with it. I know you can’t dive into challenges, you’ve got to stay on your feet, so when that happened, it was the same as what I’ve been doing, just stay on your feet and see what you can do.”
Celtic now have an immediate opportunity to respond when Ferencvaros visit Parkhead in Thursday’s Europa League opener before Rangers arrive for another derby on Sunday.
Donovan knows the importance of beginning that crucial double-header positively.
He said, “You’ve got a game to win, you need to set off right in the Europa League, and hopefully that gives us a good bit of confidence going into Sunday.”
