Brendan Rodgers praised “tactically brilliant” Callum McGregor after the Celtic midfielder shifted around the Hoops system seamlessly in the 4-2 win over Hibernian at Parkhead on Saturday.
The 25-year-old Scotland international was at his versatile best as the home side first reshuffled in the 21st minute when skipper Scott Brown went off injured to be replaced by winger Scott Sinclair.
Midfielders Tom Rogic and Olivier Ntcham both scored in the opening 45 minutes and French striker Odsonne Edouard grabbed a double after the break as Neil Lennon’s Hibs twice reduced the deficit with goals from Florian Kamberi and Martin Boyle.
The impressive win took Celtic into second place in the Ladbrokes Premiership ahead of the Europa League clash with RB Leipzig in Germany on Thursday night, with Brown a doubt along with striker Leigh Griffiths who missed the game through illness.
Rodgers, however, waxed lyrical about another of his key players.
He said: “There is only one problem, when you move Callum McGregor you want Callum McGregor to be in the other position.
“He is absolutely tactically brilliant.
“He played three positions. He played wide in a 4-3-3, he played as a holding player in the bottom of the diamond and then in the left side of a diamond.
“He is just tactically brilliant. His view of the game is so good, his brain is of a really top level performer.
“Tactically he is just a special player to work with and he has this unique quality for here in Scotland, that he keeps the ball which at the top level you have to do.
“He is such a top-class player.”
Striker Edouard hailed the victory which kept the defending champions within three points of pacesetters Hearts at the top of the table.
“It was really important to win,” said Edouard. “It’s important to demonstrate to everyone that we’re a team and work towards that top spot. We were playing a very good team, and we knew that going into the game.”
After losing 3-1 in Salzburg on match day two of the Europa League group stages, the Frenchman is looking for Celtic to get back on track in Germany and he hopes Brown and Griffiths are declared fit.
“Leipzig is important, and we need to prepare better for it so that we can do better than we did in the last match,” the 20-year-old said.
“They are two really important players for the team and they would be a big loss but we have lots of important players to step in.”
Former Celtic boss Lennon, who described the performance of referee Don Robertson as “abysmal”, said: “I was frustrated with the first half, we didn’t do the things that we wanted to do and we got exposed for pace in certain areas.
“In the first half we lacked belief in the final third at times, we let Celtic off the hook at times. We were a lot better in the second-half.”
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