Bain was magnificent for Celtic in their Europa League loss to Valencia.
Despite Celtic’s dominance in domestic football, the comprehensive 3-0 aggregate defeat to Valencia was further proof that the Scottish champions are still a long way away from Europe’s elite.
Easily beaten by two goals to nil last week, Celtic travelled to Valencia’s Mestalla Stadium for the second leg and the small hope of overturning the result. It was no use, as Valencia triumphed 1-0.
But among the negatives and frustration for Brendan Rodgers, one enormous positive will be the glittering performance of goalkeeper Scott Bain – who dazzled between the sticks on the Spanish turf.
The former Dundee goalkeeper produced a string of marvellous saves to keep the score at just 1-0, with his best moment coming in the first half to tip a looping, deflected Dani Parejo effort onto the roof of the net.
Bain also produced saves to deny Santi Mina with a strong right hand, before stopping Lee Kang-in’s close-range header late on. It only strengthened his position as Celtic’s number one above Craig Gordon.
The 27-year-old has played every single game in 2019 for Celtic, keeping eight clean sheets and conceding only three goals in 10 league and cup outings. All three goals have been against Valencia.
With Bain now Celtic’s undisputed first-choice goalkeeper – especially after his performance at the Mestalla – Alex McLeish has a tough decision to make when picking Scotland’s number one for next month’s fixtures.
Bain only has one Scotland cap, playing half of last summer’s defeat to Mexico. But he has been in and around the Scotland squad, and McLeish must weigh up whether he is currently better than Rangers stopper Allan McGregor.
On Thursday night’s showing, it is hard to argue with the claim that Bain is currently Scotland’s most in-form goalkeeper.
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