What Ange Postecoglou told his players in Celtic dressing room after Betis win

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Last night’s match against Real Betis in the UEFA Europa League was a wild ride for Celtic full of ups and downs.

Manager Ange Postecoglou named a second-string team for the visit of the Spaniards, reflecting the importance of upcoming matches compared to this encounter.

The fringe Bhoys did themselves proud, picking up a victory and ensuring that Celtic finished on nine points in the group, which is a creditable return given the quality opponents we faced.

Ange Postecoglou sends message to Celtic players after Betis

Postecoglou was impressed with the efforts of his players, telling Celtic TV he issued a positive verdict in the dressing room after the game.

The Bhoys boss said: “It was a competitive 90 minutes. That’s the way we wanted it to be. As I said before the game there are no dead rubbers for us. You could see how much Betis wanted to win the game, they threw everything at us. We got the win in the end which I think is great credit to the players and great reward for them.

“As I said to them after the game that’s why they train hard every day, that’s why we push them every day, whether they are playing or not. They have to be ready when the opportunity comes to show the best of themselves and I think they did that night.

“The great incentive is that you get the reward of winning a European tie against a top class team that they’ll always have in their bank. From that perspective I am pleased they got the rewards for their efforts.

“There’s no doubt there’s a few players that can step up. There are guys who have been working hard every day. Getting 70 or 90 minutes into some of them today will be important because we’ve got seven games between now and the break.”

The major disappointments of the night were injuries sustained to Albian Ajeti and Kyogo Furuhashi, which Ange is still waiting on the results of. That news will emerge over the next day or so.

For now we can be satisfied with a good win and what it means for players such as Liam Shaw and Osaze Urhoghide. They’ve been waiting for an opportunity for ages and on the basis of last night, are ready for more action in a Celtic shirt.

In other news, Celtic supporters have their say on debut performance of Liam Shaw in wild win.