Alistair Johnston admits he DID brand Celtic rival a 'little b****' as he reveals trash talk is axed for one match only

Alistair Johnston admits he’ll bin the trash talk against Bayern Munich.

Hearts rival Blair Spittal revealed on a podcast last week the Celtic star branded him a ‘little b****', when the pair were battling it out. The usually mild-mannered Johnston laughed it off – but he reckons he might be better biting his lip against Bayern in the Champions League tomorrow night. Johnston said: “Yeah, I don’t think so. You see, I am reasonably quiet on the pitch! I generally don’t talk unless I feel there’s the need to talk.

“But I do remember this match. I do remember saying it, although I would need to watch it back to remind myself exactly why I said it! But there was probably good reason. I don’t just say things completely out of the blue. He might’ve thought so. But it sounds like he had a good laugh with it, and fair enough. I didn’t mean it with any derogatory meaning, but it was like trash talk at the end of the day.

"Growing up, that was something .you would always do. I’ve a couple of brothers and playing hockey, it was just something that kind of goes with the course. I was surprised by how quiet most people are over here.

“Usually at European level you don’t get a lot of it, especially with the language barriers. But I’ve been surprised a little bit more domestically. I guess that comes with a lot of times we get respect from the other teams. They don’t want to say something and then before you know it we’ve put the ball in your net a couple of times.

“But that was a funny one – I was wondering if that would ever come out! He did well with it, though. It was a good story.”

Johnston will need his full focus to keep tabs on Bayern’s blistering attack – that includes danger man Jamal Musiala, who did the damage against