With the exception of a night in Barcelona it’s been a season of almost non-stop highlights for Celtic fans.
Sitting clear at the top of the Premier League, looking forward to the semi-final of the BetFred Cup and back in the Champions League would have satisfied the most demanding of supporters as the door closed on Ronny Deila.
Almost every aspect of the club has been transformed under Brendan Rodgers with supporters looking forward to matches with a new batch of heroes to follow.
International breaks are usually slow and boring but this one seems to be lasting an eternity as the clock ticks slowly towards Saturday’s match with Motherwell. Rarely has a visit from the Fir Park side been so anticipated!
Whether it’s goals, games or players the Celtic support has rarely been as contented and happy with a decade of downsizing replaced by ambition and excitement.
The tag #inBrendanwetrust has been adopted with the Irishman appearing to be a perfect match for the club.
After leaving Liverpool it required a certain type of challenge to appeal to Rodgers, from the moment he appeared in front of 13,000 fans there has been a perfect harmony between the dug out and the stands which are back to hosting crowds of 50,000 and upwards for run of the mill SPFL matches.
With five long days until the resumption of real football Video Celts selects the FIVE high points of the season to date.
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CELTIC 5-2 HAPOEL BEER SHEVA
A game that had everything with the perfect finale provided for by Scott Brown.
The Israeli champions were rated as the toughest of the non-seeded sides in the play-off phase but were taken apart in a blistering first half that featured a great double from Leigh Griffiths.
Panic set in as Hapoel pulled the scoreline back to 3-2 as the ghost of previous Champions League qualifiers resurfaced.
Moussa Dembele put Celtic 4-2 ahead but it was a rare goal from the skipper that gave Celtic breathing space for the return leg with that unconventional strike making the difference after a very nervy 2-0 defeat in Israel.
DEMBELE SCORES!
Celtic Park had already witnessed a raucous 45 minutes as four goals were shared between the leaders of the SPFL and Barclay’s Premier League.
Some fans were still getting back to their seats when Kieran Tierney sent in a cross from the left. What happened next will never be forgotten as Dembele took a touch then sent an overhead kick into the net to restore Celtic’s lead.
City did level the scores but across Europe that night there was one goal and one player in the spotlight- Celtic’s £500,000 summer signing from Fulham.
DEMBELE PUTS CELTIC 2-0 UP
He had opened the scoring ten minutes earlier with a powerful header but shortly before half-time Dembele scored the type of goal that every Celtic fan dreams of.
When Rob Kieran passed the ball to Nir Bitton, Dembele knew exactly what to do as he raced into space behind the Sevco defender.
Debutant Phillipe Senderos provided little resistance as Dembele checked inside then curled a shot with the outside of his foot beyond Wesley Forderingham and another back tracking defender.
Sweet.
HEARTS 1-2 CELTIC
As impact subs go Scott Sinclair made quite an impact on his debut at Tynecastle.
A long running transfer saga finally reached it’s conclusion but there was no great fanfare to celebrate the £3m arrival from Aston Villa.
That all changed 20 minutes into his debut when Sinclair raced from his own penalty box to combine with Leigh Griffiths to score the winning goal.
Sinclair went on to score in his next five SPFL appearances but the impact that he made on his debut confirmed that Rodgers patience in the transfer market had been justified.
CELTIC 4-1 ABERDEEN
Last season’s runners up had the perfect opportunity to hurt Celtic as they faced upto the bhoys after a long draining trip back from Israel.
Leigh Griffiths scored an incredible opener but that strike was cancelled out by Adam Rooney only for James Forrest to restore Celtic’s advantage before the break.
Celtic weathered something of a storm midway through the second half but came good before the end with goals from Scott Sinclair and Tom Rogic putting the hoops to the top of the league despite playing a game less than their rivals.