Celtic sealed an impressive Europa League round-of-32 win against Russian side Zenit without defender Dedryck Boyata.
The fact that many Celtic fans were rejoicing the news that Dedryck Boyata was to miss the Europa League round of 32 first-leg clash with Zenit St Petersburg speaks volumes about the centre-back’s performances in recent times.
Boyata had become a scapegoat among some supporters as Celtic crashed out of the Champions’ League group stage, with five defeats out of six in the first half of the season.
It was his error that cost the Hoops dear in a narrow home defeat to Bayern Munich and he was nothing short of dreadful in that chastening 7-1 thrashing at Paris Saint-Germain.
And it will not have passed Celtic fans by that their impressive defensive performance in Thursday’s 1-0 win against Zenit St Petersburg came with Boyata on the sidelines.
Zenit were big favourites heading to Parkhead as Roberto Mancini’s men had scored more goals than any other side in this season’s group stage. But Celtic dominated the game, deserved their win and restricted the Russians to just two shots on target across 90 minutes.
Jozo Simunovic was back to his commanding self while the youngster Kristoffer Ajer was mightily impressive alongside the Bosnian.
The Norwegian teenager Ajer, who came in for Boyata on the night, produced arguably the best performance of any Celtic defender in Europe for the last 12 months.
So even if Boyata does return in time for the second leg in Russia in a week’s time, why would Rodgers fix what does not appear to be broken?
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