The summer signing made his Celtic debut against Barcelona.
Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers
Brendan Rodgers has conceded that he has probably been unfair on Cristian Gamboa since his arrival at Celtic due to the thrashing they received on the full-back’s debut for the club, the Daily Record reports.
The 26-year-old arrived at Parkhead during the final days of the summer window and has spent the majority of his time with the club so far behind Mikael Lustig in the pecking order.
Barcelona’s Jordi Alba in action with Celtic’s Cristian Gamboa
His hopes of holding down a regular spot in the team were not helped as his debut saw Barcelona stroll to an emphatic win in the Champions League. Before this weekend, the Costa Rican had made just one more appearance since the Nou Camp hammering.
However, Gamboa started Celtic’s victory over Motherwell on Saturday, and was able to enjoy being a part of a victory for the first time as the Hoops claimed a 2-0 win.
Cristian Gamboa, in action for Costa Rica
And after the game, Rodgers hinted that his performance against the Catalan giants may have counted against him in some way.
“Gamboa hasn’t had a lot of opportunities and it’s probably been a little unfair as his first game was at the Nou Camp,” he said, as reported by the Daily Record.
“But he’s proven in training now that he’s up to speed and he’s understanding how we’re playing and I think he did very well.”
While it would not be a surprise to see Lustig to go back into the team in the near future, Gamboa will take a tremendous amount of confidence from the fact that he helped the team keep a clean sheet on their way to the three points that maintain their lead at the top of the table.
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