HAD things panned out differently, Highbury hero Brad Friedel could have been facing Blackburn in tomorrow's much-hyped 'Battle of Britain'.

Liam Brady, the former Celtic manager, tried to sign America's number one during his time in the hot-seat at Parkhead.

But, thankfully, that move never materialised and Celtic's loss eventually became Rovers' gain, much to the current Worthington Cup winner's great relief.

For Blackburn's man-of-the-moment is currently in the form of his life judging by his performance against Arsenal on Saturday.

And that's one of the main reasons why Rovers will head for Scotland tomorrow brimming with the confidence necessary to pull off a UEFA Cup victory in the intimidating atmosphere of Parkhead.

Manager Graeme Souness always knew exactly what the United States international was capable of following their time together at Galatasaray, which is why he pulled out all the stops to bring him to Ewood as soon as he knew he was available.

It was a move which had fans questioning the manager's wisdom at the time because Rovers already boasted two established international stoppers in Alan Kelly and John Filan.

But Friedel has since won over the doubters with a string of top performances and the confidence he instills in his team-mates will be vital if Rovers are to triumph in the much-hyped 'Battle of Britain'.

"If you want a successful team then you need a top class goalkeeper and we've got one of those in Brad," said Souness, as he put the finishing touches to his preparations ahead of tomorrow's game.

"But we can't go up to Celtic relying on him to perform like he did against Arsenal otherwise we'll find ourselves on the end of a hiding.

"It's up to everyone to raise their games because although Saturday's result was very pleasing I still think we can play a lot better than we did at Highbury.

"Brad had one of those days but anyone who has seen him in training will tell you he plays like that all the time.

"We've known what he is capable of for two years but it's only now that the rest of the Premiership is waking up to the fact."

Friedel certainly knows what it's like to play at Parkhead having appeared there for Liverpool in the past, albeit in a game to open the stadium following its redevelopment.

But Souness will look to people like him to help nurture his young players through.

"It is initimidating, it is noisy but if you've got anything about you then these are the games you want to be involved in as a player," said Friedel.

"This is a great tie for us and all the lads can really start to focus on it now.

"When the draw was first made, we still had three or four Premiership games to concentrate on but now we can finally concentrate on the task of beating Celtic and I don't see why we should go there with anything to fear.

"Winning is a priority because winning games is a great habit to get into to.

"Obviously, we know it's going to be tough up there but we've just got a fantastic result at Highbury and there's no reason why we can't do the same at Parkhead tomorrow.

"Whenever you get a result against possibly one of the best club teams in the world you are going to be pretty happy with your performance so we couldn't be going up there in better spirits."

Friedel's current form for Rovers is certainly a far cry from the latter months of his Anfield career when he was left to rot in the reserves by Liverpool chief Gerard Houllier.

The way he was cruelly cast aside by the Frenchman in favour of Sander Westerveld left some questioning whether or not he was cut out for the Premiership at all.

But he has answered his critics in the most emphatic way possible with his form for Rovers during the last 18 months, so much so that he is now regarded as one of the best keepers around in the top-flight.

"I think my time at Liverpool was a blip in my career," said Friedel.

"It wasn't like things ran at any other club I'd been at or as it was in my youth days.

"It was just one of those things. The whole club was in transition. Mr Houllier came in and made a lot of changes and I was one of them.

"And that was basically it in a nut shell, there was nothing more or less to it.

"Then Blackburn came along. I played for Graeme before, he knew what I could do, and I knew what I was capable of doing, and that's why he bought me."