Ronny Deila saluted the class of Virgil van Dijk after Celtic’s 2-1 win over Dundee at Dens Park.
Just past the hour mark the Dutchman stepped up to send a brilliant free-kick beyond Scott Bain to build on Gary Mackay-Steven’s first half opener.
“We score from a lot of free kicks’s he (van Dijk) couldn’t do any better,” the Celtic boss said.
“Today he struck the ball so hard, his tempo this season has been fantastic.
“It was niave to concede a goal so late but I felt that we controlled the match. We scored two goals, could have scored more and it was a great effort after coming back from 120 minutes on Sunday- that demonstrates good team spirit. game.
“We are in a good position, the title is getting closer and closer, we hope for a good result for Inverness (against Aberdeen) on Saturday and then for us against Dundee United on Sunday.”
Deila made three changes from the side that lost out to Inverness Caley Thistle at Hampden with Adam Matthews, Stefan Johansen and Kris Commons dropping out.
Mackay-Steven, Stuart Armstrong and Efe Ambrose were brought in with the former Dundee United duo heavily involved in the opening goal that saw Mackay-Steven drive the ball into the net off the underside of the bar from 15 yards out.
That goal settled Celtic’s nerves although Dundee had offered little threat to Craig Gordon in the Celtic goal.
Just past the hour mark van Dijk made sure of the points with his tenth goal of the season, smashing home a centrally placed free-kick from 25 yards out.
Three minutes from the end Jim McAlister pulled a goal back for the home side but there was no further scoring as the hoops moved eight points ahead of Aberdeen with five matches left to play.
Teenager Kieran Tierney made his first team debut with nine minutes left to play, replacing Emilio Izaguirre.