Viljami Sinisalo made his Europa League debut for Celtic against Stuttgart and gave a very good account of himself.
Celtic’s win at Stuttgart was the Parkhead club’s first victory on European soil and Sinisalo did the Bhoys’ travelling support proud.
Speaking before kick-off, Hoops boss Martin O’Neill was quizzed about dropping Kasper Schmeichel to the bench as the Celtic boss explained he always had a plan for Sinisalo.
Has he played his way into the team for Ibrox?
Martin O’Neill shuts down talk about Celtic’s Kasper Schmeichel
Schmeichel has been suffering from a drop in form and from the outside looking in, it seems he has been dropped to the Celtic bench. Not so, says the Hoops boss.
O’Neill told TNT Sports, “People are making an awful lot of this. Kasper Schmeichel, in my spells here, has done wonderfully well.
“He’s made some big saves. He made a couple of saves against Feyenoord and Bologna that got us here.
“[Viljami] Sinisalo was always going to play in this game, second leg. He has an opportunity now to show what he wants to be, Celtic’s first team goalkeeper.
“He wants that, what’s the point in hanging around otherwise?”
Viljami Sinisalo’s Celtic stats make a Rangers case during historic Stuttgart win
Sinisalo was rated as Celtic’s player of the match by football stats site Fotmob, and the numbers the Finn achieved are impressive.
- Minutes played: 90
- Rating: 8.4
- Saves: 6
- Goals conceded: 0
- Diving save: 3
- Saves inside box: 4
- Acted as sweeper: 1
- Punches: 1
- Throws: 6
- High claim: 1
- Recoveries: 10
- Clearances: 2
The young goalkeeper has done his chances of being picked for Celtic’s trip to Ibrox to face Rangers no harm after this brilliant Europa League performance.
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