Liam Scales spoke a bit about his remarkable rise at Celtic after debuting for the Republic of Ireland.
The 25-year-old finally earned his first cap for his country in Friday night’s defeat to a Giorgos Giakoumakis-inspired Greece.
This result ruled Ireland out of next summer’s Euros in 2024. That was obviously a real disappointment for Scales, although he is likely to look back on the Aviva Stadium clash with fondness.
The international recognition continues an incredible period for the defender that has seen him go from an outcast to a first-team regular at Celtic. Ever honest, Scales admits he thought he was heading for an exit in Glasgow a matter of months ago.
“The thing is that I’ve kept things simple,” he told Off The Ball after the game. “I’ve just taken it as it comes and haven’t got ahead of myself.
“I got the opportunity through a couple of injuries where maybe I thought I was going to be out the door at Celtic. It was just about taking it one game at a time.
“We had a couple of big games — Rangers away and the Champions League games. I’ve been able to show what I can do in those games and that’s helped my cause I think.
“The one thing I’ve always wanted was to get a cap for my country. It’s a proud moment but then it’s disappointing that we didn’t get a good result and the performance wasn’t quite where we wanted it to be.”
The defensive injuries Scales refers to were a massive pain for Celtic. At the time, we all feared the worst as Maik Nawrocki, Cameron Carter-Vickers, Stephen Welsh and Yuki Kobayashi all went out injured, and Carl Starfelt departed the club.
It was a genuine injury crisis and a dire situation for us all. Yet, with our situation now much improved, we can definitely look back and take some brilliant positives.
The obvious one is Scales. Had Carter-Vickers and co not been missing in the early portion of the season, we likely wouldn’t have seen him feature at all.
Brendan Rodgers also deserves real credit for showing faith in the defender for our huge game at Ibrox. He could easily have forced new signing Nat Phillips in for that one, alongside Gustaf Lagerbielke. I’ll be totally honest and say that’s what I wanted to happen at that stage.
But Rodgers backed Scales and he has been repaid in virtually every game since. The Irishman is far from the finished product, but he has genuinely surprised me a lot over the past six weeks, domestically and even in the Champions League.
Right now, it’s he and Carter-Vickers that I want to see get a run in the team.
In other news, watch beaming Celtic star show off a different kind of threat with international impact footage
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