Brendan Rodgers was full of praise for his Celtic squad after they lost on aggregate to Bayern Munich in the Champions League.
The Northern Irishman hailed his Bhoys as ‘heroic’ after Celtic conceded a 94th-minute equaliser against the German giants to bow out of the competition.
Daizen Maeda was lauded by the Celtic fans after the game for his part in Nicolas Kuhn’s goal which sent supporters into dreamland.
While Micah Richards loved Kuhn’s own performance and thinks the game changed when the winger was substituted out in the second-half.
But it was Jeffrey Schlupp and Arne Engels who Rodgers has went into depth about as he spoke to the press ahead of Celtic’s clash with Hibs on Saturday.
Rodgers loved Jeffrey Schlupp’s Bayern Munich display
Schlupp was a January transfer deadline day signing on loan from Crystal Palace and it’s safe to say he’s settled in seamlessly already.
The left-back shone against Bayern Munich with Crystal Palace fans questioning why the London side failed to deploy him as a left-wing back.
Schlupp came up against former Palace teammate Michael Olise and the Frenchman said afterwards that he enjoyed the battle on the pitch.
Speaking about Schlupp, Rodgers said he was ‘absolutely superb’ and showed why he was brought on loan to the Parkhead giants.
The Celtic boss said: “Yeah and the professionalism. He fits what we do here which is the reason why we brought him.
“I’d obviously spoken to Jeff in the summer with an idea of bringing him here then and then it worked out that we couldn’t get him here.
“There was a possibility that Kieran Tierney was coming back so we left it late. But obviously when that was the case he definitely wasn’t able to come back then Jeff was my first port of call really.
“You can see he has fantastic attributes, his physicality in the game. I thought he was brilliant the other night having to get through the game like he did.
“He was absolutely superb in the game. He settled in really well. He’s only been here a few weeks but he’s settling into the rhythm of the team which takes a bit of time.
“Just getting the feel for a team that’s having the ball a lot of the time and the movement patterns within that. But also defensively he was really strong against his former teammate.
“So yeah, I was so pleased for Jeff. He’s a good guy. He’s come here, fit in very easily and very well.”
Arne Engels ‘developing and growing’ at Celtic
As mentioned, £11m midfielder Engels was the other to get a shoutout at Rodgers’ Friday press conference.
Engels was terrific at the Allianz Arena and one reporter asked if his performance was a ‘coming of age’ one in Munich.
Rodgers replied: “Yeah, I think he’s been developing and growing right through the season. He’s really developed into the style of our game, understands the movement patterns and the physicality.
“You look at his data and everything over the course of this competition and that physicality which I’ve been really impressed with as a team.
“But for him in particular, he’s been very, very good for us. He was excellent but I think he’s been improving every week he’s been here.
“Just a shame for him, like I say, going back to Germany and not being able to get the result we got. But he’s been doing really well.”
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