The Jullien vs Dykes rivalry has certainly been interesting this season, and the Livingston forward has now told of how the Celtic man looked to swap jerseys with him.
Jullien took an incredible amount of stick on social media for his performance against Dykes in October. Combined with his controversial tweet about being “nervous”, many rival fans took the chance to have a dig.
However, the Celtic man got his own back at Celtic Park on Saturday. Dykes didn’t even get a sniff as he was rag-dolled by the former Toulouse man and Kristoffer Ajer.
And it appears as though our centre-back isn’t one for grudges either. Speaking to the Scottish Sun, Dykes touched on Jullien’s classy gesture post-match.
“After the game Jullien asked to swap shirts. He’s a great player and we had a good battle. Why would I say no? After the game I shook their hands. They’re all good lads and players.
“When he asked I said, ‘No worries’. It’s a little bit of a compliment as well, but hopefully next time I get the better of him.”
A top gesture from a top player
You could hardly of blamed Jullien for just wanting to see the back of Dykes. Considering the frustrations the Aussie striker has caused him, it would’ve been easy to just forget about him after the result.
But this really is a top gesture from the Frenchman, and shows a real level of respect to Dykes. Both men have now had two interesting battles with each other, and the Celtic man proved his class both on and off the pitch.
You could potentially argue that Jullien still has a point to prove against the Livi forward. After all, Parkhead is a big pitch, and is a highly-different atmosphere to the Tony Macaroni Arena. The tight nature of Livingston’s ground gave Dykes more of an opportunity to make life difficult for the Celtic defence.
So come March 4th when we head back to West Lothian, Jullien will still have something to prove. He’ll need to show he can hack that combination of a tight artificial surface and the physical battle with Dykes.
However, for now, Livingston is in Celtic’s rear-view mirror. Jullien has passed the test, and showed his class by looking to swap shirts after the game.
Rennes are next up on Thursday night, and a similarly dominant display against M’Baye Niang will be essential to our success on the night.
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