Brendan Rodgers states what Celtic board now ‘understand’ about Sebastian Tounekti after Partick win

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Celtic’s semi-final Hampden ticket is booked after a convincing win over Partick Thistle in the League Cup quarter-final on Sunday.

To the delight of the Celtic fans, it was 2025 summer signing Sebastian Tounekti taking the limelight once again with another Man of the Match display.

As you can understand, Brendan Rodgers was delighted with Tounekti’s display because he has hit the ground running and already looks at home in Glasgow.

But there is now that lingering cloud above the winger’s head, especially given the negative noise and protests towards the Celtic board, which continued at Firhill.

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Brendan Rodgers sings Sebastian Tounekti’s praise after win over Partick Thistle

Finally, Celtic fans have a winger they enjoy watching, and somebody who doesn’t just stand his man up, but actually looks to beat him.

What’s even better about Tounekti, and Rodgers touched upon this in his post-match interview with Premier Sports, he has ‘a bit of everything’ to his game.

Added to that, the 23-year-old netted his first goal for Celtic, but Rodgers wants more, as he made a comparison with the summer departure of Nicolas Kuhn.

“He’s so good,” said Rodgers about Tounekti. “He has a bit of everything. He can beat a man, run without the ball, and go either way. He can slip the runners as well.

“It’s nice for him to get his goal. It’s one of the things I said to him when he came in: he needs to improve his goals. A bit like Nicolas Kuhn. They need to get into areas and be hungry to score.”

Message to the Celtic board about Tounekti

The fact that Tounekti has hit the ground running, you are getting the obvious of, had he been signed for the Champions League qualifiers, then things would have been different.

That’s something Michael Stewart touched upon and mentioned to Rodgers, and he made it clear that the under-fire Celtic board, alongside everybody else, must now ‘learn’ from this.

Michael Stewart: “How frustrated are you that he wasn’t in a month ago, for example? You look at him and think to yourself, ‘him at home against Kairat Almaty.'”

Rodgers: “We all have seen that, and everybody understands the board, us and everyone. But you can’t look back, we have to look forward and learn from that.”