BRENDAN Rodgers has singled out Liam Scales for special praise in the wake of Celtic’s stunning 5-1 win over Slovan Bratislava in their Champions League league phase opener at Parkhead last night.

Republic of Ireland centre half Scales opened the scoring in the first half of the encounter with the Slovakian champions when he got on the end of an Arne Engels corner and netted a header.

However, the defender performed superbly thereafter and was named, for the second Champions League match in succession, Man of the Match at the end of the 90 minutes.

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The 26-year-old looked set to head out on loan again at the start of last season and only remained in the East End of Glasgow due to a raft of injuries in his position.

However, he established himself as a regular starter under his fellow Irishman Rodgers and helped Celtic to complete a Premiership and Scottish Cup double.

Scales has kept new signing Auston Trusty, who made his debut when he replaced Cameron Carter-Vickers with five minutes of regulation time remaining last night, out of the side in recent weeks.

Rodgers was pleased with how his fellow Irishman acquitted himself against Slovan and admitted that he was a player who was sometimes unfairly overshadowed by the foreign imports in his side.    

(Image: PA)

“He's a really good header,” he said. “I’ve said before, he probably doesn't get the credit that he deserves. I think with some of our boys, sometimes it's the way, whether it's the local guys or whatever. I've seen that all my life as a coach.
“The British players, the Irish players, they might not be the stellar name. Everyone's looking for something else. But these are the guys that stand out. They'll be waiting for you, the Greg Taylors, the Liam Scales, these guys.
“They're absolutely pivotal to what we're doing. Liam  gets a fantastic goal and was really strong. He played very, very well. I'm really pleased for him because he's been a really consistent performer for us since he's got on the team.”