{{grv_excerpt}}
Read More
Ralston returns to fitness, is he ready to rival Lustig for the right-back shirt?
Teenage prospect Anthony Ralston, 19, has completed his recovery from a knee injury as he turned out for the Celtic under-20 side who beat St Johnstone 3-0 on Monday.
The youngster made his first competitive appearance since his injury in late September.
Embed from Getty Imageswindow.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:’ZJNrFGzwS510o1cKLgMwFQ’,sig:’TRtM6eGvWdKn29JKSzQY6JBcerdOTRhjustWArZLKIE=’,w:’594px’,h:’395px’,items:’885270384′,caption: true ,tld:’co.uk’,is360: false })});
Ralston had enjoyed a decent run in the first team, prior to being side lined – having featured 7 times for the Celts in August and September.
Going on the evidence presented by the Celtic Academy Twitter feed, it appears the right-back had some game:
11’ -ALMOST! Ralston’s header back across goal from a Celtic corner flashes past the post. Celtic are dominating possession and creating plenty of opportunities going forward in the early stages [0-0]
— Celtic FC Academy (@CelticFCAcademy) 5 February 2018
17’ – Ralston chips an inch perfect pass over the St Johnstone defence for Hendry. The Hoops midfielder twists and turns inside the box before having a go and his shot deflects out for a corner. [0-0]
— Celtic FC Academy (@CelticFCAcademy) 5 February 2018
20’ -NEARLY! Ralston collects the ball in the centre of the pitch, drives forward and lets off a rocket of a shot from 25-yards. His efforts is just over the crossbar though [0-0]
— Celtic FC Academy (@CelticFCAcademy) 5 February 2018
68′ – Great play by Ralston. He collects the ball on midfield, dashes forward with the ball and slips a pass to Atchison on the edge of the area. The result shot takes a deflection and goes out for a corner [3-0]
— Celtic FC Academy (@CelticFCAcademy) 5 February 2018
The Scotland under-21 international endeared himself to the Celtic fans through a wonderfully spirited performance against PSG last year under difficult circumstances. Despite losing heavily, Ralston did himself justice and shook the world’s most expensive player Neymar so much so that the Brazilian refused to shake the teenager’s hand after the game.
Embed from Getty Imageswindow.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:’lyn44W27Qc9g07cVboevzg’,sig:’lhqFVIRqS2bWFIdrXNOhnV_Q2SsL9VTzPkaeqpMkPDY=’,w:’594px’,h:’395px’,items:’846142062′,caption: true ,tld:’co.uk’,is360: false })});
Having returned to training in December, the academy graduate was duly rewarded with a long-term contract which will keep him at the club until 2020. In recent weeks, Brendan Rodgers has opted to go for a back three, with Jack Hendry, Dedryk Boyata and Kristoffer Ajer making up the centre-back trio.
With Mikael Lustig still currently out, and Ajer and Boyata joining the long list of injured Celts after last weekend’s loss, Rodgers will likely be reverting back to a back four ahead of the Zenit St Petersburg tie next week – and Ralston will have his eyes set on continuing where he left off before his injury.
A terrific servant to Celtic Football Club over the past 6 years since his arrival from Rosenborg, Lustig’s performances have began to decline in recent months, with the Swede drawing heavy criticism after his efforts in the 0-0 draw against Rangers at Parkhead in December.
Embed from Getty Imageswindow.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:’mZUyCdM8Qul8L1t4HHFslg’,sig:’1QQGHyiTvBi01stIpNdOTPLgPgK5e9YiQVIv_db2GcI=’,w:’594px’,h:’295px’,items:’909379936′,caption: true ,tld:’co.uk’,is360: false })});
With the out of favour Cristian Gamboa as Celtic’s alternative right-back option, Ralston has a real chance of emulating the likes of Kieran Tierney by capitalising on the poor form of an existing senior full-back and making the position his own.
Despite only being one year older, Tierney should be a clear-cut role model for Ralston, having successfully pushed out long serving left-back Emilio Izaguirre to make the position his own.
Izaguirre, like Lustig, had consistently been Celtic’s starting full-back for the past 7 years, but none of this mattered to Rodgers or Ronny Deila who both decided to opt for Tierney following the youngster’s emergence.
Embed from Getty Imageswindow.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:’MbhR5Wr7R_1Ix2S3P9ymjw’,sig:’lF2-FrwCCHT5lHtzv_vcREpdWrwXLBpZuuz1fh73qNY=’,w:’594px’,h:’395px’,items:’846140856′,caption: true ,tld:’co.uk’,is360: false })});
Should Ralston make it as a first team regular, he will join the likes of Tierney, Callum McGregor and James Forrest who all successfully broke into the Celtic first team from the youth academy.
List page image © Ronnie Macdonald
Have something to tell us about this article?