David Turnbull has swapped Real Madrid kit for Celtic but Hoops won't change style for European champs

David Turnbull had a Real Madrid strip among his collection as a kid.

In the biggest game of his career, he could face midfield maestros in the shape of Luka Modric and Toni Kroos. In so many ways, Celtic ’s mouth-watering showpiece against the European champions stands alone as a potential epic for Turnbull and some of his colleagues. But it’s the fact boss Ange Postecoglou won’t approach Real under the glare of the globe any differently to Ross County in Dingwall last midweek that really gets the midfielder’s juices flowing.

The Aussie has pinned his intentions firmly to the mast. Postecoglou's fast thinking and quick moving team are running riot domestically as they demolish and demoralise rivals. Real Madrid aren’t just a step up in class. They are the elite. But Postecoglou is adamant that, if his team are going to go down tomorrow night, they are going to go down swinging.

And Turnbull laps up such positivity as he explained: “He’s drilled into us from day one the way he wants to play and that won’t change for anyone.

“Going into any game, that’s what we want to do. We don’t want to sit back against any team. We want to go out and play our football whether it is Real Madrid or whether it was Ross County during last week. We want to be the same.

“I don’t think we’ll change. We’ll go into the game full of confidence and play our own game. Whether it works or it doesn’t, we will still play that way and, hopefully, it does work.”

Champions League level is, of course, the premier examination. And Real are the ultimate club.

No-one has won the trophy more. In May, they held it aloft again after sinking Liverpool.

Turnbull had their shirt as a boy as he smiled: “Yeah. I had a few kits. I got a few for my birthdays.”