If patience is a virtue Ismaila Soro has 11 months of it stored up.
Signed in January after protracted negotiations with Bnei Yehuda the midfielder made four brief substitute appearances before being thrown in at the deep end against Lille in his first starting appearance for Celtic.
Neil Lennon sent out a vey different looking side and while the main spotlight was on David Turnbull there was plenty of curiosity over the well-travelled Ivorian finally brought in from the cold.
Soro didn’t disappoint. There weren’t many bone-crunching challenges from the 22-year-old but his positioning was good, he made interventions and crucially linked up well with his team-mates as some pattern and shape emerged from a season of disarray.
Despite his lack of game time there was no slacking as Soro played a full part as Celtic edged in front twice only to be pegged back.
When Celtic went ahead for a third time Soro found an extra gear- collecting a yellow card for cramp but showing his determination to get back on the pitch to see things through.
Celtic saw it through, won their first Europa League points with the big question being- what happens next?
