Celtic are flying and bang in form ahead of their Champions League showdown against Borussia Dortmund on Tuesday night.
But with that comes added pressure because of the competition it creates within the squad and how the smallest of slip-ups can result in you losing your place.
No one knows that better than Paulo Bernardo because he has had that ever since he moved to the club last summer on an initial loan deal.
Last season, Bernardo had Matt O’Riley working his magic non-stop, added with Reo Hatate and then no one is playing in front of the skipper, Callum McGregor.
But with O’Riley leaving for Brighton, it opened the door for Bernardo, who secured a permanent transfer to Celtic from Benfica this summer, to earn many more starts.
Then Celtic paid a club-record transfer for Arne Engles and now there are more obstacles ahead of the 22-year-old.
Bernardo started Celtic’s thumping win over St Johnstone at the weekend and you wonder if that’s a sign he will start in the Champions League.
Either way, whoever is on the bench, doesn’t deserve to be and it proves the quality of depth Rodgers now has to work with.
But rather than sulk, Bernardo issued a classy response when talking about the competition for starting places in the middle of the park.
He shared how we ‘push each other to the limit’ and he is ‘enjoying every single minute of it’, which is the perfect response and type of mindset that is needed.
If push comes to shove, every Celtic fan knows that Engles is keeping his place in the XI and isn’t going anywhere, amid the price tag on his head and the fast start that he has made.
Bernardo labelled Engels as a ‘great player’ and insisted that he doesn’t need motivation from the player and ‘we can only get better with each other’, as he told The Celtic Way.
Paulo Bernardo’s midfield competition with Arne Engels and Reo Hatate
“It’s great and a really competitive midfield,” said Bernardo. “We push each other to the limit, so it’s great to be part of this team and I am enjoying every single minute.
On taking his game up a level since Engles arrived and being determined to show that he should play: “I always thought that I had to do my best,” insisted Bernardo.
“It wasn’t coming of Arne that pushes me up. It helps because he is a great player and we both want to play. We have a lot of very good midfielders too. But it’s a competitive midfield. We can only get better with each other.”
Should Paulo Bernardo start for Celtic against Borussia Dortmund?
That’s the million-dollar question, and if you go off current form, then he deserves to start alongside Engels and the captain himself.
But what were Rodgers’ intentions of starting Bernardo in Perth? To rest Hatate for the Dortmund trip or to play the strongest XI before the acid test?
READ MORE: Derek Rae uses two German words to tell Celtic about Borussia Dortmund’s ‘deficiencies’
Bernardo should start the Dortmund game because his form has been very strong of late and better than Hatate’s.
Either way, who would have thought that 12 months ago, a player like Hatate being benched would still make Celtic’s midfield look as strong as ever!?
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