EVERYONE and their granny will be looking for a ticket to Hampden next month. In Matt O’Riley’s case, quite literally.

In a month of first experiences for the midfielder, O’Riley will complete his debut appearance for the Danish under-21 side by returning to Glasgow with his maternal grandmother as she prepares for a full Celtic initiation.

And such is his Gran’s fervour for a piece of the action that sneaking behind enemy lines and into forbidden territory at Ibrox is not beyond her.  

“My cousins and Grandma particularly are huge football fans,” said O’Riley. “My Grandma is going to come home with me on the flight back and stay in my apartment here in Glasgow for a little while. She wants to come and see me play for Celtic and see the stadium and the city which is great.

“She has been watching every Celtic game since I signed, sitting in her little apartment just outside Copenhagen making sure that she gets online to see the matches.   

“I have cousins who are further North so they are all scattered around a bit but they are all following me and following Celtic now. They are planning on coming to watch me for our game and then my Grandma will be with me on the way back.

“I wouldn’t put it past her to try to sneak into Ibrox for that game against Rangers either! She is definitely wanting a ticket for Hampden too….she’s a superfan! 

“I am in a FaceBook messenger and WhatsApp group with the Danish side of my family and they were obviously buzzing with it [the international call-up]. They haven’t watched someone in the family play for Denmark so they think it is so cool. I am excited for the football but also to get over and see them all because I haven’t actually seen that side of my family for a long time because of the Covid situation.”

Born in England, O’Riley has been capped for England at under-18 and under-16 level but qualifies for Denmark courtesy of his Mum. He could also have featured for Norway through his maternal grandfather but has designs now on making the senior Danish squad ahead of this year’s World Cup.

The Danes welcomed back Christian Eriksen into the team this week, the first time he has been included since suffering a cardiac arrest on the pitch at the European Championships.

He joined Brentford in January as he made his return to football with O’Riley admitting that he would love the chance to play alongside the 30-year-old in the senior Danish side.

“The headlines this week over in Denmark have been about the return of Christian Eriksson into the national team again and it is a huge thing for the country,” said O’Riley.

“They are all so excited that he is back in the team. It is such a big boost for the country. I would definitely like to aim to play alongside him one day; that would be cool. 

“I watched all of the Euros and I watched that game. It was awful to see and really scary just to watch it from a distance. Even if you aren’t a Danish fan I think everyone sympathised with what happened and it is fantastic now to see him back playing. I knew he had played 90 minutes the other week so he is obviously feeling fit again which is just amazing to see.

“It shows how good the treatment he got was and how advanced medical science is that he has been able to come back from something so serious and feel confident of getting back to the level before. It is so cool to see.”

Former Celt Morten Wieghorst was instrumental in the call-up as he paid a visit to watch O’Riley with the 21-year-old eager now to make an impression.

“I wasn’t sure that I would get called up but I knew that I had a chance so I was really pleased with it,” he said. “I’d just tried to keep my performance levels up for Celtic and focus on playing well so it is nice to get the chance. 

"I am pretty fluent in Danish. I can certainly understand everything but occasionally I find it difficult to think of what exactly I want to say so I might need a little bit of practice when I first get over there but I am sure I’ll be ok. 

“I know a few of the guys and I am actually very good mates with one of the guys we played against at Bodo/Glint – Japhet Sery. That will help but I am quite confident of being able to settle into the team quickly, just as I did here. 

“When I had the meeting with the staff they told me that 18 from the 24 players in the senior squad had all come through the 21s and it is something they feel strongly about, that there is a progressive path for the players. It is something that I can hopefully do. If this is step one for me then step two is obviously really pushing for the senior team.”