Pat Bonner claims that during yesterday’s 3-0 victory over Livingston, one Celtic player disproved him. After a protracted injury layoff, Reo Hatate returned to the Celtic side, and three goals in the second half sealed the three points.
While the Japanese midfielder received all the praise and was acknowledged as the standout player by Bonner, Paulo Bernardo also made a lasting impression on the former Celtic hero with his bench-warming display.
The Portuguese midfielder has recently been coming and going from the Celtic team. Now that Hatate is back in the fold, Bernardo needs to seize the chance to make an impression whenever it presents itself. And he accomplished precisely that yesterday, netting Celtic’s second goal of the game. And in doing so, Bonner concedes that Bernardo has shown him and the other BBC experts to be incorrect.
According to Bonner [Scottish Football Podcast], the team put in a lot of work. In the middle of the pitch, [Tomoki] Iwata also impressed me. “I felt his game was pretty good. He maintained the rhythm of the game. “Hate was the one who stood out for us rejoining the team and having a significant impact.”
As Bernardo came off the bench, we were unsure of his ability to contribute. He did come off the bench and score a really important goal. The previous goal was possibly in an area where the goalkeeper should have saved it, high up in the goal. This second goal was a good strike low. This one had a pretty nice finish and was low down to the right of the goalkeeper. And from that angle, that ended the game right then.
The Portuguese midfielder entered the game in the 65th minute and quickly became involved in the action. In addition to his goal, Bernardo’s Fotmob rating of 7.6 resulted in 24 touches of the ball and a 93% passing accuracy.
The 22-year-old assisted the Celtic attack by creating one opportunity, dribbling 100% of the time, and making one lone incursion into the Livingston box. Bernardo performed admirably on defense. In addition to winning two of his five duels, he made three ball recoveries and played one defensive play. For the more than 25 minutes he spent in the park, he gave a really good performance. Does it suffice to start in the starting lineup for Ibrox the following week?
Though I highly doubt it, Bernardo shown yesterday that, should Brendan Rodgers need to use him, he can be a very potent option off the bench.
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