Youssouf Mulumbu put in a fantastic performance for Celtic in the Europa League, but dropped down to the bench at the weekend.
After taking a while to make his Celtic debut, Youssouf Mulumbu would have known how important it was that he impressed when Scott Brown picked up an injury ahead of the Hoops’ Europa League tie with Red Bull Salzburg last week.
Mulumbu’s only appearance before the trip to Austria came in the 2-1 defeat to Kilmarnock, so the Salzburg game presented the summer signing with a fantastic opportunity.
And while the evening was a disappointing one for Brendan Rodgers’ men, Mulumbu was arguably one of Celtic’s most impressive players on the night. He seemed to fill in for Brown superbly, and made the Hoops’ defence look much more solid. Unfortunately, Salzburg had a lot of joy once they targeted Celtic’s right flank.
And that excellent performance is perhaps why Mulumbu could feel as if he may be one of the unluckiest players in the Scottish Premiership champions’ squad right now.
Rodgers decided to leave the former West Brom man on the bench for the trip to St Johnstone at the weekend despite Brown still not being available.
Instead, Callum McGregor seemed to be deployed in a deeper role. And, like Mulumbu against Salzburg, McGregor was inspired in the middle of the park as Celtic strolled to a 6-0 win.
The Scotland international’s display certainly hinted that he could be more than capable of filling in for Brown when required, and that could be a fantastic way to get him into the team when the likes of Tom Rogic and James Forrest are on form further forward.
And that could perhaps leave Mulumbu in danger of falling down the pecking order, which, after such a superb display last Thursday, may well feel like quite a blow for the midfielder.
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