‘A real leader’: Steven Thompson hails Scott Brown’s influence on Celtic

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Former Rangers striker Steven Thompson has paid the highest of praises to Celtic skipper Scott Brown, calling him ‘peerless’.

Sunday saw Scott Brown lead his Celtic side to yet another victory at Ibrox over Rangers. This derby marked Brendan Rodgers’ fourth visit to Govan, maintaining his 100% record of wins against Rangers away since joining up with the Hoops in 2016.

The game was a classic affair with both teams going toe-to-toe for the majority of the 90 minutes. It had goals, momentum shifts, plenty of aggressive challenges and of course, a red card, to seal its status as a vintage Old Firm affair.

Despite Odsonne Edouard stealing the show from off the bench, former Rangers striker Steven Thompson believes Scott Brown was the real game winner for the Hoops, as he has been so many times in the past.

Brown, who has dominated the fixture since his rise to prominence at Celtic, was tenacious as ever in the Celtic engine room, and partnered alongside the Man of the Match Olivier Ntcham, ran circles around Sean Goss and Greg Docherty.

Speaking on BBC’s Sportscene at 6pm (11th March 2018), Thompson cited Brown’s display in the final 20 minutes of the game as most impressive, praising the former Scotland international’s positioning and leadership which helped defuse anything Ranger’s could conjure up in their attempts to draw level.

“For me, Scott Brown in the last 20 minutes of the game was absolutely peerless, he was magnificent,” Thompson told the BBC.

“The number of times he snuffed out dance, I could have picked about a dozen examples.

“His knowledge, his positional sense, a real leader.”

Brown and co now look near certain to bring home a seventh league title in a row and will now have their eyes on the Scottish Cup semi-final, another chance to defeat their rivals and go one step closer to a second domestic treble in a row.