Alexandro Bernabei has been enjoying his spell on loan at Internacional after making his move from Celtic back in March.
Bernabei had a bad start to his Internacional spell after missing a connecting flight to Brazil which delayed his Serie A debut.
However, the Celtic loanee eventually got his first league start in July and it’s fair to say Bernabei’s performance really impressed the Internacional fans.
Since then, Bernabei has played every minute of the Brazilian Serie A side’s last 14 league games where he has tasted defeat just once.
And in his latest outing against Corinthians, the left-back has probably made the biggest contribution to the results of his temporary club to date.
Alexandro Bernabei scores for Internacional in huge Grenal derby
Alexandro Bernabei got his first taste of the massive derby between Internacional and Corinthians this weekend.
Labelled the Grenal derby, this fixture is famous for being one of the fiercest rivalries in Brazilian football and Bernabei was at the thick of it as he scored for Internacional in a 2-2 draw with Corinthians at the weekend.
That result lifts Internacional to sixth place in the league and consigns Corinthians to the relegation zone in 18th place.
What Brendan Rodgers has previously said about Alexandro Bernabei and Celtic
Celtic paid £3.75m for Bernabei two seasons ago and the Argentine struggled to oust Greg Taylor from the Hoops’ first-team lineup.
Making just 28 appearances for Celtic, Bernabei was allowed to leave the club to find first-team football after Brendan Rodgers decided he wasn’t needed for the title run-in last season.
Bernabei was disciplined by Rodgers at the start of the Irishman’s second tenure at Celtic for sleeping in for a team meeting and the Argentine made just nine appearances under his new manager that season.
When his loan move was secured, at the time Rodgers revealed his thoughts on Bernabei, “He’s a really, really good professional. He never gave me a minute’s problem since I’ve been here and trained hard every day. But, he needs to and wants to go and play.
“His chances, I could only be open and honest and say it would be limited here. That chance to go to Brazil, the team he’s gone with has an Argentinian coach – hopefully he can play regular football.”
Bernabei recently admitted to struggling to adapt to life in Scotland which is probably why he couldn’t really settle at Celtic.
It does seem that even though Bernabei is playing well at Internacional, his Celtic career looks like it could be over.
Hopefully the 24-year-old can continue his good run of form and earn a permanent move away from Celtic after his loan spell at the Brazilian club ends in December.
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