Two words- Engels reflects on Celtic debut on Instagram

Arne Engels kept it simple with a ‘Magical Day’ message on social media to mark his debut goal for Celtic.

A few fans were surprised to see the Belgian internationalist replace Paulo Bernardo in the side selected by Brendan Rodgers to face Hearts but alongside Callum McGregor and Reo Hatate all four will feature heavily in the coming weeks.

Engels hit the post in the first half with a snap shot, laying down a marker as he lived up to his all-action midfielder tag.

There will be aspects of Matt O’Riley that Celtic will miss but on yesterday’s showing Engels brings plenty to the party with just the fine tuning of his integration with new team-mates lacking. That will come through games.

Goals matter however, O’Riley contributed 20 from midfield last season with Engels off and running yesterday with a confidently struck penalty past Craig Gordon.

With the midweek fixtures getting underway Rodgers will have to dig deeper into his squad, last season that was an issue with a big drop off whenever he turned to the bench.

Yesterday’s goals both came from Deadline Day signings, with five midfield players battling for places the Celtic manager is getting towards the depth and options needed to compete in Europe without taking a hit domestically.