Moussa Dembele’s long-awaited reunion with Brendan Rodgers in Saudi Arabia didn’t disappoint.
In the Eastern Derby between Al-Ettifaq and Al-Qadsiah, the pair faced off over seven years on from the striker’s social media outburst at his then-manager.
Eager to make a £20 million move to Lyon, a 22-year-old Dembele accused Rodgers of breaking promises that Celtic wouldn’t stand in his way of a transfer exit.
This led to various social media posts by the Frenchman, saying “a real man keeps his word” and “be careful who you call your leader”, addressed to the Parkhead support.
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Moussa Dembele and Jack Hendry score against ex-Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers in Saudi Arabia
Rodgers’ side took the lead through Julian Quinones, but wing-back Mohammed Abu Al-Shamata was sent off for a foolish incident shortly later.
Then, either side of half-time, Jack Hendry and Dembele’s goals against their former manager turned it around.
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Both were well-taken headers by men signed by Rodgers in Glasgow. Hendry’s was his first goal in Saudi football.
A penalty by ex-Liverpool, Roma and PSG midfielder Gini Wijnaldum made it 3-1 to Al-Ettifaq, but Quinones set up a grandstand finish by scoring again.
Incredibly, Al-Qadsiah then scored an equaliser in seemingly the last act of the game. However, VAR intervened and called a foul by Gaston Alvarez, leading him to be sent off and the goal to be taken away.
It was a fiery end to a hotly-contested game which culminated in Rodgers’ first defeat since moving to the Middle East in December.
They now seem all but out of the title race, ten points behind league leaders Al-Nassr.
Hendry and Dembele were brought to Al-Ettifaq in the same summer, almost three years ago, by ex-Rangers manager Steven Gerrard.
They were controversially joined by Jordan Henderson, who lasted just six months in Saudi before sacking off his lucrative contract to join Ajax.
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What Brendan Rodgers said about fall-out with Moussa Dembele at Celtic
At the time, Rodgers said when asked about the situation with Dembele: “The whole episode was disappointing – and I’ll say a bit on it and then that will be it then, because it’s been a bit one-way.
“I had a really close relationship with Moussa. I enticed him to come here, with a plan going forward.
“He was desperate for the move, of course, but we wanted to try and keep him because we didn’t have another option.
“But then there was a line that was overstepped, from a behaviour perspective, and I’ve been in these situations enough times to know if you can pull it back or not. And, like I said, I needed to speak to Moussa – and I had a number of my senior staff with me.
“I just asked him; can you tell me and the guys in the room that you received promises from me, or any member of Celtic? And quite clearly and categorically he said ‘no’.
“So, once he said that, that was fine then, I said ‘you can now go, if you can get the move’.
“There is a lot of integrity here within our staff and with our team and how we work. I understand the model here at Celtic, with these talents coming in.
“You develop them and then you move them on. But there was a lot of stuff that was said that was not so nice and, ironically, not true.”
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