Ronny Deila praised Craig Gordon last night after the goalkeeper turned in a terrific performance in Celtic's 2-2 draw with Salzburg in Austria.
The 31-year-old was signed on a free transfer in the summer after two years out of the game with injury but he has helped Celtic fans forget about England goalkeeper Fraser Forster, who departed for Southampton in the summer. Once again Gordon starred in a pulsating Europa League Group D opener at the Salzburg Stadion.
Wakaso Mubarak scored 14 minutes into his Celtic debut but the Brazilian striker Alan levelled 10 minutes from the break with a shot from the edge of the box, which took a marked deflection off Efe Ambrose before looping over Gordon.
On the hour mark, Scott Brown, playing only his second game of the season after recovering from a hamstring injury, sent in a drive from outside the box which hit Andre Ramalho and the ball spun into the net. Gordon made several brilliant saves to keep Salzburg at bay but he had no chance in the 77th minute with Jonatan Soriano's 25-yard free-kick, which flew high into the top corner.
Brown ran out of luck after the match when both he and Aleksandar Tonev were selected to undergo drugs tests. Tonev managed to produce his urine sample in time to catch Celtic's flight back to Glasgow, but his captain took longer, missed the plane and will travel home this morning.
After the match, Deila praised his goalkeeper, saying: "He has been good all season but is getting better and better. He is a top professional, a fantastic man and I am so glad to have him in the group.
"I had only seen him on television, playing for Sunderland. I didn't know him but Stevie Woods [goalkeeping coach] said he was ready, and he is fit now and he will come to the level he was at. He is a very good professional, very calm and so far he has been fantastic."
Deila spoke of the importance of getting a point away to the group's top seeds in their opening fixture but was honest enough to admit the home side deserved to draw level.
He said: "It was a good result, they are a good team and were difficult to play against. They played with high intensity and have very fit and quick players. I think we played much better as a team today. But it was important to get the point. Before the game we spoke about getting something from it. We are lasting the distance better, over 90 minutes. We need to be quicker with passing but with the team spirit we have we will get points and I am satisfied with that.
"But I think they deserved to get the goal in the end, they had some chances and we had a fantastic goalkeeper. Yes, we were 2-1 up but their free-kick was fantastic.
"But I am pleased with the point and happy with the performance. We are progressing but there is a lot of work to be ever better."
Gordon conceded that Salzburg's late equaliser was a moment of top quality, which dipped and swerved on its way to the top corner. "It's a great strike," the goalkeeper told BT Sport 1. "I said that to him at the end - he came up to me, shook my hand and smiled at me, so I knew what he was getting at.
"Yeah, it was a great piece of skill to get it up and over like that and into the top corner. I got close, but not close enough."
He added: "Sometimes you just have to hold your hands up."
But Gordon is pleased with where Celtic are at after their draw. "We said we wanted to come here and get a good result and get off to a good start," he added. "We've done that, we'll take the 2-2 draw, it could have been better but, ah well, we're definitely satisfied with that."
The former Sunderland goalkeeper also reserved special praise for both of Celtic's goalscorers on the night, including debutant Mubarak.
"He's [Mubarak] been scoring some great goals in training and he got another one today," he said. "That was a good decision to put him in for his debut, I thought he was excellent.
"And Scott, I don't know where he gets the energy from, he's been out for quite some time but he summoned up the strength to keep on going for 90 minutes tonight and that's the measure of Browny - he gives everything to the cause."
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