Jozo Simunovic surprised Celtic team-mate Kristoffer Ajer last week.
Kristoffer Ajer has admitted to The Record that he didn’t know Celtic team-mate Jozo Simunovic had a mazy run in his locker.
The Croatian centre-back, who stands at 6’3, got bums off seats at Hampden Park last Sunday with an ambitious foray deep into Aberdeen’s half during a Scottish Cup semi-final – and almost scored from it but Joe Lewis kept him out.
And Ajer, his central defensive partner, admitted that he didn’t realise the big man had such ball-playing talents.
He told The Record: “Jozo Simunovic did so well with it. It was a joy to watch his runs and he almost scored. And his stepover as well! I didn’t know he had that in his locker.”
Simunovic looks a player reborn under Neil Lennon.
He looks a hell of a lot more confident than he did under former Hoops Brendan Rodgers, who only played him when other options were unavailable usually.
But Lennon had Filip Benkovic on the bench last week and could have easily partnered him and Ajer, and Simunovic, who joined from Dinamo Zagreb in 2015, looks to be benefiting from this show of faith.
The Bhoys visit Hibernian this afternoon and it’ll be interesting to see if Lennon continues with the same axis of Ajer and Simunovic in defence.
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