Jorge Cadete speaks out about his Celtic Park return on Saturday

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Former Celtic fan-favourite Jorge Cadete was back at Parkhead on Saturday taking in the Hoops’ 5-0 rout of St Mirren.

Cadete was at Celtic for a year back in the Tommy Burns era between 1996 and 1997 and managed to bag 33 goals during his time in Glasgow (The Celtic Wiki).

Unfortunately, Cadete left Parkhead having failed to win a single trophy during his year at the club. However, his impact during the Burns days are still widely recognised, and he still has a strong relationship with the supporters today.

And speaking to the Scottish Sun, he admitted that he loves coming back to Celtic Park, even if the game itself didn’t lead to much excitement for him.

“I love coming back to see Celtic and it’s always a great experience to meet the fans. You see the passion when you talk to them but I just wish the game had been more competitive.

“St Mirren defended for almost 90 minutes. It’s not their fault, but Celtic were just too strong for them. St Mirren had ten men behind the ball and didn’t create many chances in the game at all. I prefer watching games that are more real — with both teams attacking. St Mirren were deep, there was no space behind and Celtic spent a lot of the game passing the ball from side to side.

“I felt they took too many touches at times, but I also know it isn’t easy to play against defensive tactics. The Celtic fans are always great, but I didn’t feel the same ambiance from the stands as normal. Ibrox will be a very different atmosphere for sure but I expect the same result — a Celtic win.”

Wasn’t much wrong with Saturday whatsoever

Whilst it’s great seeing Cadete back and enjoying his day at Parkhead, we have to disagree that there was anything wrong with what was produced on Saturday.

Cadete perhaps doesn’t see too much of Celtic nowadays. However, when we play against deep blocks such as how St Mirren set themselves up, the Hoops always patiently probe for openings.

What that means is that possession is often moved from one end of the pitch to the other in search of a chance to break through. Perhaps there is an argument to say at times we can be more direct, but Celtic are playing in a system that’s reaping victory after victory for them.

As Cadete says, it’s going to be an extremely different game at Ibrox. Celtic will have a brand new challenge when Rangers try to put a hard press onto them. It’s going to be day and night from what we’re used to in Scotland, but you still fancy Celtic to rise to the occasion.

Ibrox, of course, is also the scene of the infamous crime when Cadete was robbed of a clear equalising goal in a 3-1 defeat to Rangers back in 1997. With three minutes to go, the Portuguese slammed home with a stunning swivel and strike. However, the flag inexplicably went up despite him being several yards onside.

Cadete has since spoken of how the goal that never was still haunts him (Scottish Sun). Here’s hoping he’ll be fully tuned in this Sunday to watch some more efforts fly into the Rangers net. Granted, even then it still won’t make up for that shocking moment back in ’97

Do you agree with Cadete that there were too many side-to-side passes on Saturday? Could we be more direct at times despite the fact we’re scoring at an alarming rate? Let us know in the discussion forum below.