The Celtic defender is set to face one of Europe’s most exciting young attackers on Thursday.
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It’s safe to say that Celtic fans are liking Filip Benkovic – a lot.
The Leicester City centre-back, who joined Celtic on a season-long loan, scored his first goal for the Hoops in last weekend’s 5-0 demolition of Hearts at Parkhead, producing a thumping first-half header.
In addition to that goal, the 21-year-old has been proving himself an excellent defender and Brendan Rodgers’s side look like a far more cohesive defensive unit with him back there.
Thursday will undoubtedly throw up his biggest test of the season when Leipzig visit Glasgow in a Europa League clash, but if Benkovic can pass with flying colours then he is certainly the real deal.
Being a rock against Celtic’s Premiership rivals will always be taken with a pinch of salt, given the standard in Scotland’s top flight.
But Benkovic, who cost the Foxes £13 million in August [Sky Sports], comes up against Timo Werner this week and keeping him quiet would underline his potential as a serious defender.
With six goals in 10 Bundesliga games, the 22-year-old, who also has four in his last two outings, is one of the best young players on the continent and was linked with an £87 million move [Bild] to Liverpool earlier this year.
Silencing him could be very tricky for Benkovic, but if the Croat comes out of Thursday having won that head-to-head battle then Celtic fans’ appeals to sign him permanently will only get louder.
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