Being Filip Benkovic

A football journey of tragedy and triumph.

- Tony Connelly

THERE is a natural tendency to try and understand what drives successful people, particularly those who thrive in highly-competitive atmospheres, but it’s difficult to gain an insight into those individuals without knowing the journey they’ve undertaken.

Filip Benkovic’s path to Paradise has been one of both tragedy and triumph, but he believes it is those experiences which have made him the person and the player he is today.

Benkovic’s start at Celtic was briefly interrupted by injury, but he marked his return earlier this month in the 6-0 win against St Johnstone at McDiarmid Park. He is only four games into his Hoops career but the young Croatian defender has already made an impact with the quality of his performances.

Brendan Rodgers showed his faith in Benkovic when he named the 21-year-old in the starting XI for Saturday’s highly-anticipated game against Hibernian.

Neil Lennon’s side sat second in the league coming into the game and posed a real threat of derailing Celtic’s momentum, but the Scottish champions were at their best as they came away with a convincing 4-2 victory to leapfrog the Edinburgh side in the table.

Benkovic was excellent throughout the game and delighted those in attendance with a commanding and assured performance in the heart of defence alongside Dedryck Boyata. The quality of his performance illustrated why Leicester City paid so much to Dinamo Zagreb for the promising young talent, and it’s not hard to see him going on to become a world-class player as he continues to develop.

You won’t hear Benkovic voice such lofty ambitions, however. The Bhoy from Zagreb has his feet firmly planted on the ground and is solely focused on impressing Brendan Rodgers while savouring what he sums up as an amazing period in his life.