Erik Sviatchenko reckons fellow Scandinavian Mikael Lustig deserves immense respect for staying at Celtic for so long. The Dane, now back in his homeland with FC Midtjylland, played for Celtic for two years between 2016 and 2018.
He enjoyed a good relationship with the Celtic support but only a fraction of that generated by Lustig’s time at the club. The Swede is expected to end a seven-and-a-half year stay in the east end of Glasgow at some point over the next few days, and Sviatchenko just hopes he’s remembered well.
“Mikael has had an amazing period of success at Celtic”, he told the Daily Record. “To win eight titles in a row is incredible.
“Mikael has done well to stay at a club like Celtic for such a lengthy period of time and he kept his levels very high. He gave the club so much and captained the side many times.
“It is rare for any player to stay beyond five years with the same team in modern football.”
Long lasting impact
Sviatchenko makes a very good point. It’s been easy to take Mikael Lustig for granted over his time at the club. The Swede has been a reliable player playing mainly at right-back but also filling in at centre-back on occasion.
He’s featured 276 times for the club, starting 254 of those and netting 21 goals. The sheer number of games he’s played shows how big a part of Celtic’s history he is. Other than current stars Scott Brown (525) and James Forrest (348) you have to go back to Stiliyan Petrov to find the last player who featured more than Lustig.
The Bulgarian played 309 times for the club before leaving for Aston Villa in 2006. But even given the effect Petrov had and the side he played in, his trophy haul is still dwarfed by Lustig. The midfielder won ten trophies in his seven years at the club while Lustig has 16.
Celtic have ripped up the rulebook in recent years with regards to records and honours. Lustig has been a big part of that and will be remembered fondly if he moves on.
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