"Young Ajer was so impressive" – Gary Breen was impressed with the young Celtic defender tonight. #CELZEN pic.twitter.com/Ok67rK6tev
— eir Sport (@eirSport) February 15, 2018
Sky Sports pundit Kris Commons has heaped praise on the Celtic defence after the club helped shut out Zenit St Petersburg at Parkhead on Thursday night.
Callum McGregor scored a stunning winner in the second half as Celtic took a commanding position in the Europa League last-32 first leg by winning 1-0.
Bhoys manager Brendan Rodgers and his men travel to Russia next week as they aim to reach the last-16 of the Europa League, but will do so with a lot of confidence after ensuring Zenit did not grab an away goal in Glasgow.
Former Celtic star Commons believes that Celtic defence answered all the question that were asked of them against the Russian sides, and believes that will give the Scottish champions a massive boost going into the second leg.
“I think the performance, especially defensively, will give Brendan Rodgers a huge amount of confidence,” said Commons, as shown on Eir Sport’s official Twitter account on Thursday.
“Apart from one chance in the first-half, the goalkeeper wasn’t troubled at all.
“And I think with all the talk about concentration, the mindset of being defensive and hard to beat, there were a few question marks about that back four tonight [Thursday] and they answered all the questions.”
Celtic were no doubt the better team all night as the constantly applied pressure on Zenit.
The Bhoys came marching out of the blocks in the opening exchanges with McGregor pulling the strings in attack.
The Scotland international was rewarded with a goal in the 78th minute when he smashed home a lovely pass by substitute Charly Musonda.
Next up for Celtic is a clash against St Johnstone at Parkhead on Sunday before they travel to Russia next Thursday to play Zenit for the second leg.
Avoiding defeat in St Petersburg will guarantee the Hoops of their place in the last-16.