Celtic defender Josip Juranovic has lauded “True Paradise” on Instagram as he reacted to his first ever goal at Parkhead.
Juranovic stepped up to slam home a late penalty against St Johnstone on Saturday to secure 3 points in a 2-0 success. Meanwhile, the Croatian international was left with a big moment personally after bagging his first goal at Celtic Park and second for the club overall.
It’s something Josip is clearly taking great pride in, as his latest Instagram post shows. Here, Juranovic bigs up the moment with Joe Hart and Liel Abada also joining in with the congratulations:
Juranovic’s goal also marked his return from injury after spending just under a month on the sidelines.
The former Legia Warsaw man, who signed for the Hoops in the summer for £2.5m [Scottish Sun], again featured in his lesser familiar left-back position.
We spoke yesterday about how Celtic will only see the best of Josip when he’s featured in his natural right-back position. But even so, the player is clearly buzzing with how things are going early doors.
Josip Juranovic – Celtic first-choice penalty taker?
It’s become noticeable in recent times that when Juranovic is on the pitch, he appears to be the first-choice penalty taker. The Croat smashed home an impressive opening goal in Real Betis from the spot last month too. It wasn’t a surprise to see him slot another into the net on Saturday.
Interestingly, it came 4 days after captain Callum McGregor watched his penalty against Ferencvaros be impressively stopped by Denes Dibusz.
With Odsonne Edouard and Ryan Christie gone, there’s a spot available for a new spot-kick taker. Celtic have been longing for a reliable one for some time. With 2 spot kicks out of 2, Juranovic looks like being the main man for now.
Of course, there’s also still a need for him to go back to his more suited right-back position. It’s where he’s thrived for Croatia and it’s the position he was signed for in the first place.
Now that he’s fit, it’s going to be interesting to see how Ange Postecoglou works that battle between Juranovic and Ralston. Certainly, there’s a demand from supporters to see what Josip can do at right-back too.
Next up for the Hoops is a trip to Easter Road on Wednesday night. Not many will be expecting a positional change in that one, but who knows?
In other news, Mikey Johnston credits new Celtic Head of Sports Science Anton McElhone for injury recovery
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