TWO-TIME WINNER Liam Scales is excited to play alongside Ronaldo to top off an excellent season.

He received his first four Ireland caps and a new long-term contract as a result of his efforts; he hopes to earn his fifth against Portugal tonight. Additionally, he wants to go up close to Ronaldo so that he may stop him and snap a picture of himself sparring with the leading goal scorer in international football.

Scales stated: “I don’t support United, but I like Ronaldo. His career speaks for itself, and I hope I get to play against him.”

“He is perhaps the greatest goal scorer of all time; you never lose that skill. He may have slowed down a little, but you can still see the form he’s in, so we need to be ready for him when he’s at his best.

“I wаnt tо plаy аgаinst him. I dоn’t knоw аbоut the оther guys, but it’s оne оf thоse things yоu cаn sаy yоu did when yоur cаreer is dоne.”

“Hopefully I get a picture with him next to me taken by one of the photographers. The challenge is to observe his demeanour; we’ve seen it, but it would be amazing to experience it firsthand by competing against him.

Scales stated: “I am excited about the new format that the Champions League will be using this season.

“I hope we’ll have a little more experience next season because that was my first taste of Champions League football, and it would have been the same for many of the players. That will be beneficial to us.

After a fruitful loan stint, Adam Idah has admitted he expects to return for pre-season play with his parent club, Norwich City, so it’s unclear if he will be able to assist.

But once he silenced the sceptics who were unimpressed with his arrival in January, Scales said he would be delighted to see the Cork man remain in Glasgow.

Scales stated: “I don’t think it bothered Adam; that’s the case with Celtic fans a lot of the time; it doesn’t reflect on Adam at all, they just have this high standard.”

“He’s the kind of character that, if all goes well and he takes off like he did, will soar. It speaks volumes about his character that he was able to pull that off and go on to have the kind of half-season that he did.”

He scored the game-winning goal in the Cup final and helped us win the league. I’m happy for him.

“He was outstanding, and everyone at the club and Celtics would love to have him back. A lot of things need to go right, but hopefully they do.”

I have been more subdued this year, and while you do get noticed a little more, that’s a good thing.

It’s a little bit of a fishbowl, but we all know what to anticipate now that we are accustomed to it.

“The media over there… there was some concern about us in the middle of the season, Rangers were the league favourites, and the media grabbed on it,

“I have played in big games, at the highest intensity I have ever played, for a full season, that has improved me a lot but I don’t want to stop, I want to keep going.”

Fоr nоw, thоugh, the fоcus is оn Irelаnd with Scаles eаger tо build оn his 45-minute perfоrmаnce in the 2-1 win оver Hungаry lаst week in which Idаh аnd, in ιnjury time, Trоy Pаrrоtt scоred with the teаm’s оnly twо effоrts оn tаrget.