Sebastian Tounekti made a decisive impact from the bench on Saturday, delivering the kind of performance Celtic have been waiting to see since his arrival.
The Tunisian winger was introduced in the 70th minute with Celtic trailing and badly lacking invention in the final third. What followed was the clearest indication yet of why Celtic invested around £5 million to bring him in over the summer.
Tounekti has shown flashes of quality since joining, but consistency has been the missing piece. Against Dundee, he finally put it all together when it mattered most. From the bench, he played a key role in the dramatic equaliser, setting up the move that allowed Junior Adamu to score with just 15 seconds of normal time remaining and force extra time.
Tounekti was not finished there. Early in the first period of extra time, he stepped up himself, driving forward and unleashing a stunning strike that completed the turnaround and sent Celtic into the next round of the Scottish Cup after a night that threatened to unravel.
Despite the match-winning contribution, Tounekti insists he is only scratching the surface. Speaking after the game and looking ahead to Wednesday night’s league meeting with Livingston, he said, quoted by the Herald: “I’m happy I could help the team. I want to help every game with goals and assists, so it was a nice game for me.
“But I feel like to me it’s only the start. I feel like I can improve a lot and I feel like I have the ability to do that. I just have to get confident and to work hard in the training. I’m sure that I will just improve every game.
“I think people forget that I’m coming from not a small team but a smaller team. I am coming to a really big team where the expectation is really high. Also, I would say I’m a young player who’s still learning.
“But I just feel like I have the right people around me now. I’m just learning every day. For me, I hope I will take more steps because I feel like I could help the team a lot.
“When you play for a team like Celtic, you have to win every game and you have to play well every game. I’m still learning. But I feel like I have the ability to help the team and to play here. I just have to try to show it more often. I’m just happy to be here.”
Behind the scenes, Tounekti has been working closely with Mark Fotheringham, and the improvement has been increasingly noticeable. If Saturday is any indication, Celtic may finally be seeing the player they hoped for, with confidence, clarity, intensitey and end product beginning to align at the right time of the season.
