Not many fans could have predicted they would see Nir Bitton captain a Celtic side in European competition – particularly in a 3-2 victory over Real Betis to round off the Europa League groups stages.

But that is exactly what the Israeli internationalist did on Thursday night, as one of the more experienced names in the fringe side named by Ange Postecoglou at Parkhead.

The midfielder turned temporary defender was on the park to witness several of his teammates pick up injury knocks, as both Albian Ajeti and Kyogo Furuhashi added their names to the injury list.

However, despite that blow to Ange Postecoglous squad, Nir Bitton is insistent that this group of players still has enough quality to continue the good run of form they have picked up in recent weeks, as he also opened up on the privileges of captaining the club.

“One game, one win. “Just give me it (captaincy),” he said, as quoted by Football Scotland.

“No, it was a real privilege for me. I was really honoured to captain this amazing club.

“It’s just another milestone for me. I’m almost nine years here, and I really love this club, everything about this club.”

He continued: “I think if you ask any footballer in the world what he would rather do, whether it’s train all week or play three games in a week, everyone would say three games in a week,” the Israel international said.

“It’s a very busy schedule for us this month, but we have to deal with it.

“We have a good squad with a lot of quality, and we have to deal with everything that comes our way, whether it be injuries or suspensions, anything. We have to deal with everything and make sure we finish this month as strongly as possible.”

“Our squad is good; our squad is strong; we believe in each other. We have a system which we try to work with every single day, and even the guys who haven’t played much since the beginning of the season came in and did an amazing job.”

With the demands which Postecoglou lays on the players each day and in matches, it felt almost inevitable we would see players pick up slight injury knocks during such a hectic point in our season.

Of course, it is still frustrating. Especially with the squads need for added quality in certain areas of the park.

One positive to look at from Thursday night, though, is that Ange clearly has a hungry group of players who are willing to give their all to play in his side in the system he is looking to play.

Hopefully, despite the absences, we can continue to see the squad keep up this momentum.

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