Watch Kyogo’s unbelievable class when awarding Arne Engels with Celtic Man of the Match award

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Celtic ended 2024 in the perfect manner.

What a calendar year it has been for Scotland’s greatest club, from Celtic winning the double upon Brendan Rodgers’ return to trophy number 119 being delivered after the League Cup final win over Rangers.

To make sure it all ended well, Celtic put four goals past St Johnstone on Sunday and further extended their lead at the top of the table to 14 points.

Once again, Rodgers made changes to Celtic’s XI, to keep players fresh, with Nicolas Kuhn opening the scoring, Kyogo Furuhashi netting a brace and Daizen Maeda getting on the scoresheet again.

But the man who walked away with the Man of the Match award was summer signing, Arne Engels, who has started back-to-back matches over this Christmas period and showcased real signs of improvement.

Kyogo Furuhashi hails Arne Engels after Celtic’s win over St Johnstone

Even though Kyogo can speak little English, his actions post-match spoke a thousand words when he was handing over the Man of the Match award to Engels.

The Japan star was asked about the game and how it was a ‘very good performance’ from the team, before looking towards his teammate and saying his assist for Kyogo’s second goal was ‘phwoar’.

That’s when Kyogo bowed down to his teammate and awarded him with the Man of the Match award in a huge sign of respect from the player, as you can watch via Celtic TV below.

“I think very good performance,” responded Kyogo to the win over St Johnstone. “I am just happy to help the team (then points towards Engels). His assist (for Kyogo’s second goal). Phwoar”

Engels responded: “I think it was amazing. Like the gaffer told us ‘to finish the year really well’. That’s what we did from minute one. We showed that we are ready for the game and we took it into our own hands. I think we finished well. Also, congrats with the two goals (looks towards Kyogo). Everybody is really happy. I think it has been busy. A lot of games. We keep on going every three days now. It’s up to us to keep this level. Just to keep on going, but it has been really lovely as well.”

Engels is then told by the Celtic TV presenter: “You have won another Man of the Match. Somebody who is familiar with winning them is going to give you the bottle (of champagne) today, so Kyogo could you do the honours.”

Kyogo then bows down to Engels, before handing him over the Man of the Match and then gives his teammate a hug.

Engels’ stats for Celtic against St Johnstone

With Celtic’s trip to Rangers now around the corner, you presume this bodes well for Engels to start ahead of Paulo Bernardo.

Callum McGregor and Reo Hatate and the two certain starters in the middle of the park, and whilst Bernardo hasn’t done much wrong, Engels has probably now forced his way into the XI with his recent performances.

That’s further proven by WhoScored rating the Belgian’s display against St Johnstone at 8.02.