“I’ve got big boots to fill, and it’s great for me, it’s great motivation,” Adam Idah

The Celtic Star

·31 January 2025

“I’ve got big boots to fill, and it’s great for me, it’s great motivation,” Adam Idah

Adam Idah spoke to the media post-match after Aston Villa 4-2 Celtic. Despite the Irishman being on the scoresheet twice, the Hoops fell short of taking any points in Birmingham…

Adam Idah of Celtic is challenged by Ezri Konsa of Aston Villa during the UEFA Champions League match between Aston Villa FC and Celtic FC at Villa Park on January 29, 2025. (Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images)

However we had already made it through to the play-offs and will now welcome either Real Madrid or Bayern Munich to Celtic Park in February for the first leg.

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Here’s what Celtic’s Number 9 had to say after the Champions League match at Villa Park on Wednesday night. Apologies for being a little late with these articles, was travelling back from Birmingham yesterday…

Q: Those two fine finishes, just what you needed I guess?

Adam Idah: “Yeah, it was great to get to two goals and get the team back in it, but it was obviously quite disappointing to get that result. But to be fair to the boys, I think we did really well, we dug in deep. The start the first half probably killed us a bit, but I think we learned a lot from that game, you have to be on it at this level for 90 minutes, and that’s probably what we lacked a bit tonight, but overall it was something we can learn from, take the positives and move on to the next round.”

Adam Idah scores Celtic’s first goal during the UEFA Champions League match between Aston Villa and Celtic at Villa Park on January 29, 2025 (Photo by Dan Mullan/Getty Images)

Q: Did you feel you had a bit of a point to prove this evening in front of goal?

Adam Idah: “Not really, no, obviously I’d not scored in a couple of games, but I’m probably going to have that so many times in my career, it’s not the end of the world to me. As long as I can work hard and do the other bits it’s fine. I think in this day and age for a striker it’s not just goals that you need to do, so of course it’s a bonus to get the goals, but for me it’s alright. Once I work hard the goals will come.”

Q: You talked about learning a lot from tonight, what did you learn?

Adam Idah: “Just to stick together as a group, I think at this level teams are going to come out hard and quick, and that’s up to us to be resilient and stay tight, compact, and not give away a goal so cheap and early in the game, stick together as a group. It’s happened before at Dortmund; we’ve seen the result that game. I think tonight to be fair though, we’ve come back in quick, dug deep, and just unfortunately in the second half we’ve not got the win.”

Adam Idah scores his team’s first goal past Emiliano Martinez during the UEFA Champions League match between Aston Villa and Celtic at Villa Park on January 29, 2025. (Photo by Dan Mullan/Getty Images)

Q: It’s been a big week for you after Young Boys and two goals tonight?

Adam Idah: “Yeah, it’s been a great week, it’s good for me to get my confidence up, get on the score sheet, give me that motivation to want more. it’s been a great week, for the boys overall it’s been good. It’s a good result last week, and then tonight, although the result wasn’t great, like I said, we did alright, we’re going to be playing against the top teams in Europe now, and that’s the level we all want to be at.”

Adam Idah scores Celtic’s second goal past Emiliano Martinez of Aston Villa during the UEFA Champions League match between Aston Villa and Celtic at Villa Park on January 29, 2025. (Photo by Dan Mullan/Getty Images)

Q: You’ve been vying with Kyogo for that starting striker spot, now he’s gone, how keen are you to make that spot your own?

Adam Idah:“Yeah, of course, I think any striker wants to play all the time. Kyogo has been fantastic, he’s a great player, he’s a legend at the club. It was good playing with him, watching him, he is an unbelievable player. But now it’s up to me, I’ve got big boots to fill, and it’s great for me, it’s great motivation, I just want to keep the spot now and keep going.”

Q: Do you relish the challenge of being Celtic’s number one striker?

Adam Idah:“Yeah, of course, I think no matter what team I’m at, I always want to play. In football, you’re not going to play every game. I’ve been through it before when I was at Norwich and here. All I can do is do my best for the team and when I do get that chance take it.”

Q: How much have you grown personally during this Champions League group?

Adam Idah: “I’ve grown a lot. I’ve got experience in the Premier League so I know what the levels can be. European games can be a bit different, that maturity of being disciplined. When you’re in Europe, you have to be on it for 90 minutes, I think the big difference is in the league, we probably have a lot of the ball, rather than Europe, we need to be so much more defensive, and stay together as a team.”

Aston Villa v Celtic Champions League 29/01/2025. GOAL scores 2-1 Celtic forward Adam Idah 9 scores and celebrates with Celtic defender Liam Scales 5 during the Champions League match between Aston Villa and Celtic at Villa Park on 29 January 2025. Photo Manjit Narotra

Q: It’s going to be Real Madrid or Bayern Munich, your thoughts on the potential draw?

Adam Idah: “Both teams are two of the best teams in Europe and the world. It’ll great for us, this is the level we want to be at, we want to play the top teams, and see what we’re like against them, we want to do the best we can do. Weirder things have happened before so hopefully we can go out and get a result.”

Q: What about Jota coming back, what does he offer this side and how will he lift you when you go back into Europe?

Adam Idah: “Yeah, I’m sure he will, I think he’s a fantastic player, I’ve seen him previously before when he was here. I’ve seen him in training, he’s unbelievable, he brings a lot of joy, he’s the type of player we can rely on a lot, so I think he’ll be fantastic for the team.”

Conor Spence

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“I’ve got big boots to fill, and it’s great for me, it’s great motivation,” Adam Idah | OneFootball