Gustaf Lagerbielke is set for a Europa League semi-final, less than a year after leaving Celtic permanently.
It’s fair to say that the defender has made the right call in leaving, as in his first year at Braga, he has seen his market value skyrocket.
Lagerbielke is reportedly attracting interest ahead of the summer, namely from mega-rich Paris FC in France, having established himself as a starter for Sweden in their successful World Cup qualifying play-off campaign.
But Thursday night may have been the best yet for the Swede, brought to Celtic under Brendan Rodgers in 2023.
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Gustaf Lagerbielke’s Braga complete 4-2 comeback win over Real Betis
Braga finished in the top eight of the Europa League League Phase, qualifying directly for the round of 16, where they came from a 2-0 first-leg defeat to win 4-2 on aggregate against Robbie Keane’s Ferencvaros.
This earned them a quarter-final against Real Betis. Their first leg finished 1-1 in Braga.
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In Seville on Thursday a nightmare first half-hour saw the Portuguese side fall 2-0 down, giving them a mountain to climb.
Incredibly, by the hour mark, it was 3-2 to Braga. Whatever manager Carlos Vicens said at half-time clearly worked wonders.
It wasn’t finished there, either. A fine volley by Jean-Baptiste Gorby gave Braga a fourth on the night, and that was how the scores finished.
The 5-3 aggregate win sent Braga to the semi-final. It’s their longest European run since 2011, when they famously made the final of the competition against local rivals Porto in Dublin.
Of course, Lagerbielke’s side beat the Hoops at Celtic Park in the League Phase, in a winning return to Glasgow for the defender.
The Swede was signed from Elfsborg in Rodgers’ first transfer window of his second spell in 2023.
Despite his £3 million price tag, Lagerbielke started just three games all season, finding himself rock bottom of Rodgers’ pecking order.
He joined FC Twente on loan for the 2024-25 season, and joined Braga in the summer for a fee of £2.2 million.
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Other Celtic summer signings from 2023 – where are they now?
Looking back on Mark Lawwell’s 2023 transfer window isn’t fun – forgotten names such as Odin Thiago Holm, Marco Tilio and Kwon Hyeok-kyu left Rodgers with a completely bloated squad.
£7 million was spent between Lagerbielke and Maik Nawrocki, but loan signing Nat Phillips ended up ahead of them in the pecking order.
At £3.5 million, Luis Palma was the Jota replacement – he wasn’t an abject failure, making an impact for the team – but he was frozen out by Rodgers and is now on loan in Poland.
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