BRENDAN RODGERS, the Celtic manager, heaped praise on forgotten Celtic striker Nadir Ciftci who came off the bench last night to score in Rodgers’ first game in charge of the Glasgow club.
Celtic were 1-0 down at the break when a fresh 11, including the 24-year-old, took to the Arena Petrol pitch against Celje, with the new-look line-up conceding a second just four minutes later.
However, the man who spent the second half of last season out on loan at Eskiesehirspor looked inspired as his headed goal sparked a comeback for the Scottish champions who went on to claim a 2-2 draw courtesy of a second from Tom Rogic with 15 minutes to play.
Read more: Celje 2 Celtic 2: Brendan Rodgers revolution officially underway
Ciftci is a player Rodgers knows well. Having seen him in action as a youngster coming through the ranks at Portsmouth – when he played against his son Anton – the Northern Irishman is keen to see if he can hone the talent that was prevalent in the fledgling years at Fratton Park.
“I thought he was excellent,” said Rodgers. “He has worked very hard in training and has taken on board that the striker needs to be able to press and work how we want him to play. We saw that, he was pressing the centre-half and the goalkeeper. He got in a good position to score. He held the ball up really well, so I thought he was excellent.
“I need to assess him. I’ve seen a lot of players for the first time but I had seen him as a young player. I remember him at Portsmouth when he was really young against my son who was at Chelsea, and he was a talent then.
“He was mobile, if we can get that mobility back into his game he’s got a good idea for football. He has talent. He’s worked very hard and it’s good for him to get the goal.”
Reflecting on his maiden match in charge of Celtic, Rodgers added: “Yeah I thought it was excellent. We are obviously just a week or so into it, so to get the game this early doesn’t normally happen. But I thought our application was very good.
“Second half was better than the first because it was a quicker game. We pressed much better and showed a good mentality even though it’s a pre-season game.”
Celtic will now prepare for their next game which will take place on Sunday in Austria against Sturm Graz.
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