Action Man

Nir Bitton is delighted to be back playing again and is ready to play his part in Celtic’s push for more silverware this season.

- Tony Connelly

NIR Bitton is well-versed in addressing adversity head on after working his way back into the Celtic team following a year out of the football with injury.

He believes the mental resolve he summoned up to do that is ingrained within the entire Hoops side, and evidence for that was clear last week when the champions overcame the tribulations thrown in front of them.

Seven consecutive league titles is a perfect illustration of Celtic’s long-standing domestic dominance, and so the managerial changes at Paradise last week will have left Celtic’s rivals with the illusion that the champions might have suffered a blow and could be challenged.

Neil Lennon’s swift appointment will have damped any such expectations, however. The former Celtic legend, who led the club to the first three titles in the current run as well as some memorable European results, had returned home.

And any hopes that the changes would somehow have unravelled the team’s focus were brushed aside 24 hours later when Celtic triumphed at Tynecastle with a dramatic last-minute winner, created by captain Scott Brown and finished by Odsonne Edouard.

Celtic followed that up three days later with a win in another difficult away tie as they booked their place in the Scottish Cup semi-final with a 2-0 win against Hibernian at Easter Road.

Speaking exclusively to the Celtic View, Nir Bitton, who played in both of those games, said: “Tynecastle is a difficult stadium to play at and their style of play is to play long balls and fight for the second ball.

“This is always difficult to play against but we showed great character to win the game.