Celtic enjoyed a beautiful Sunday yesterday after claiming three comfortable points against Rangers to reclaim their spot at the summit of the Scottish Premiership.
Brendan Rodgers’ men arrived into proceedings with maximum points from their opening three league matches. It is fair to say they continued that trend against Philippe Clement’s hapless visitors, who couldn’t capitalise on their early momentum.
Daizen Maeda, Kyogo Furuhashi, and Callum McGregor all scored for the Bhoys. Celtic retained 53% possession and had 14 shots to Rangers’ 13 efforts, but crucially, they created five ‘big chances’ to just two from their city rivals [Fotmob].
Despite the core of the dressing room playing a leading role in their derby triumph, this was also a game of firsts in some ways. Arne Engels and Luke McCowan made their debuts and got an early taste of things to come in green and white.
Engels took to Instagram to react to his first minutes at Celtic since completing an £11 million move from Augsburg.
Arne Engels’ delight at Celtic debut in derby victory
On the social media platform, Engels paid tribute to the ‘incredible’ atmosphere he witnessed at Celtic Park during his side’s victory over Rangers.
He stated: “What a way to get my debut, atmosphere was incredible.” This was followed by a four-leaf clover emoji and a blowing smoke emoji, so he was definitely happy with his afternoon’s work in Glasgow’s east end.
Eventually, Engels will be expected to take the mantle Matt O’Riley has left to match at Celtic. However, he may have a job getting in ahead of Paulo Bernardo once the Bhoys return after the international break, with the Portugal Under-21 international enjoying an excellent afternoon in the engine room.
Nevertheless, the result capped a fine week for the summer signing, who earned a call-up to the Belgium senior squad on the same day his move to the reigning Scottish champions was pushed through.
Hopefully, he can enjoy a productive international break with Belgium against Israel and France before returning to cement a place in Rodgers’ starting line-up.
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