Arne Engels ‘trusted’ over Celtic penalty as Brendan Rodgers reveals staff suggested other player retake spot-kick

Add as preferred source on Google

Arne Engels had the cojones to step up and score a retaken penalty for Celtic vs Ross County on Saturday.

The Belgian midfielder had his initial spot-kick saved by Jordan Amissah before the goalkeeper was found to have come off his line to keep it out.

Engels then stepped up again to take and slotted the ball beyond the goalie at the second time of asking.

It came after Yang had been fouled in the box in a penalty call that needed VAR intervention and one pundits accused of being incorrect.

Celts eventually swept the Staggies aside in a convincing 4-1 victory and manager Brendan Rodgers hailed his side’s “fantastic” mentality.

Chris Sutton took a pop at rivals Rangers while also applauding the winners.

• READ MORE: Celtic told what would happen next season if Rangers sacked Philippe Clement

Brendan Rodgers tested how Celtic’s Engels handles pressure

It took a while for the Hoops to really secure all three points to go 18 clear at the top of the Scottish Premiership before Rangers won at home vs St Johnstone.

But it was Engels’ penalty which cemented things.

For the manager, he admitted at full-time in discussing the match with the media that there had been questions from his staff about whether or not to allow Engels to retake the penalty.

Luke McCowan, the substitute who would eventually score himself anyway, was earmarked as the man to take the ball from his teammate for the second bite at the cherry.

The boss, however, was adamant that it was Engels he wanted to take it again to see how he coped with the pressure.

And the midfield man – who has become a major player for Celtic in recent weeks – did the business.

Luke McCowan is a Celtic penalty taker option

“Yeah, it’s just trusting a player,” Rodgers said on the retake.

“Sometimes you get the inkling, you know, he’s missed the first one.

“The guys are saying, should we give it to Luke? No, let him deal with the pressure.

“Let him deal with the pressure and he stepped up and he dealt really well with it.”

Kyogo hit a double with the other goals in the game and the Japanese was described as a “scary” player to face.