Paulo Bernardo simply can’t wait to pull on a Celtic jersey again this season.
Bernardo has been sidelined since February and has missed major fixtures including the shattering defeat to Bayern Munich as well as Celtic’s 3-2 defeat to Rangers last time out.
The midfielder is excited to be back on the grass at Lennoxtown and, while he may not yet be fully ready to play against Hearts in the Scottish Premiership this coming week, Bernardo is pleased to be available whenever Brendan Rodgers calls upon him.
Bernardo would likely take a bounce game right now or a Lowland League outing with the B team, but the 23-year-old has a strong squad to head back to.
Bernardo is buzzing to play alongside Celtic star Jota again
And with old pal Jota now back up and running, the former Benfica pair will be playing together in no time.
“I’m looking forward to playing with everyone. But yes, Jota, it’s nice to have him here with me,” Bernardo told the press ahead of the weekend’s action.
“I speak a lot with him, so I think we are a good double (pair), too. I spoke with him after he re-signed, but not before.
“I think he was really excited to be here again.”
Bernardo’s injury sidelined him longer than he’d thought
Bernardo picked up an injury vs Raith Rovers and was forced off that day and the £3.5million man felt at the time it would only be a short-term issue.
However it took longer than he’d expected – and hoped – to get back in contention.
“Things have been all good. I can play football again, so I’m really excited about the upcoming weeks,” he said yesterday afternoon.
“The injury was bad, but I recovered very well, and hopefully, I can play from now on. It was bad when I saw the results of the scan, because I thought it was a short-term injury, and it wasn’t. So, it was a little bit bad, but I had the opportunity to recover well and to work on other things that I couldn’t do during the season.
“It was a good time to recover and to do other things, too.”
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