Celtic winger Marco Tilio made his long-awaited debut for the Bhoys in Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Motherwell, coming on late in the match as a substitute.
Tilio was a surprise member of today’s extended squad, his first inclusion on the bench since joining from Melbourne City during the summer transfer window.
With ten minutes of stoppage time on the clock, Tilio was brought on in the 94th minute to replace Hyunjun Yang as Celtic searched for a winner in the closing stages of the match.
The winger only managed six touches of the ball in that time, as you’d expect, but today was still an important step forward for him.
Pre-match, manager Brendan Rodgers had indicated in a radio interview that the 22-year-old was looking more confident in training over the last couple of days having managed to play some minutes with the Australian U23s side during the international break.
He wanted to expose the player to the matchday experience ahead of a busy schedule, with injuries to Daizen Maeda and Liel Abada limiting the manager’s options.
Tilio will not be included in the squad to face Lazio on Tuesday night in the Champions League as he has not been officially registered with UEFA for the tournament.
However, he’ll be hoping to travel with the team to Perth to face St Johnstone in the Scottish Premiership next Sunday.
Only Luis Palma has really locked down a starting spot on the wing, giving Tilio a chance to compete with Yang, Mikey Johnston and James Forrest for minutes under Rodgers. Now he’s finally been involved, more match action could come quickly.
In other news, Brendan Rodgers reacts to dropped Celtic points as Bhoys draw vs Motherwell.
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