Celtic winger Nicolas Kuhn has shared a brilliant inside joke he has going with fellow right-sided player Alistair Johnston.
In Wednesday’s stunning Serie A tie, the duo shut off Atalanta’s left side. The Hoops were solid defensively, with everyone putting in a good effort to help bring a point home from Italy.
Kuhn and Johnston worked well together on Celtic’s right flank, and this season they’ve started to form a good partnership.
Whether in attack, as with a late winner against Ross County, or in defence, as when they played effectively together against Atalanta, the pair are growing together game by game.
Midweek, after the Bhoys earned a valuable point on the road in the Champions League, Johnston and Kuhn joked that the German would soon be the Hoops’ new right-back given all of his defensive efforts.
“We had to defend really deep,” Kuhn explained (Glasgow Times).
“Now that I’m the new right-back, Ali [Johnston] and I have already had some fun! There was a lot of defensive work but we had to do that and I think we did well.
“From the beginning it was clear that, especially Daizen and I, we had to help out, because they overloaded the side with three, sometimes four players.”
Kuhn and Maeda were key in tracking back and helping their respective fullbacks shut out Atalanta’s continual threat in the wide areas.
Both attackers and the team, in general, showed a different, more defensively solid side to their game, which isn’t usually on display versus elite European sides.
Brendan Rodgers finally learned his lesson on Wednesday, as the Celts were willing to absorb pressure and frustrate their opponents while waiting to strike clinically on the break.
Such an attitude must now be the norm for the Scottish champions when they face elite clubs away from home in Europe.
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