Carl Starfelt rose like the price of housing to produce yet another superb headed clearance in the final seconds to get Celtic over the line last weekend at Hampden in the Cup semi-final.
Supporters and pundits were waxing lyrical about the bravery and brilliance of Cameron Carter-Vickers and rightly so. Make no mistake, were it not for the brilliance of Reo Hatate, the American would be my Player of the Year in Scotland. For all the headlines and the magic produced by the attacking players, Carter-Vickers is huge and has a presence that makes him priceless for the team.
But I can’t help thinking he is complemented brilliantly by his partner who never gets the same recognition when it comes to assessing the champions-elect. Starfelt is an absolute giant in Ange Postecoglou’s backline and due a whole load more credit than he gets from outside that dressing room. The Swedish international is every bit as important to Celtic’s defence as Carter-Vickers and it’s like people have a long-term memory complex.
I’m fully aware Starfelt walked off a plane on to the pitch at Tynecastle for a debut on the opening day of last season and was all over the shop as Josh Ginnelly ran past him at the edge of the box to set-up a goal for Hearts pal Gary Mackay-Steven. That was a forgettable first moment in the shirt, yet it’s like he’s been branded by some from that moment onwards.
Starfelt has made one or two other mistakes, of course he has. But so has everyone else. Kyogo Furuhashi has 49 goals for the club but he’s missed some golden chances. So has Daizen Maeda. So has Jota.
Even Carter-Vickers makes them, such as when he was late on Cammy Devlin to give away a penalty against Hearts when Celtic were there on Premiership duty in October. The whole team across the pitch makes mistakes now and again, yet it seems Starfelt is one of those whose errors get picked apart.
He came good last season and he and Carter-Vickers have that astonishing record of never losing a game together when starting as a pair in the top flight.
Starfelt’s second-half performance with his back-to-the-wall in last-season’s title-clinching 2-1 win over Rangers at Ibrox 12 months ago was magnificent. Towering.
No offence to Moritz Jenz, but Celtic were nowhere near as solid when he was having to cover for Starfelt in the first half of this term. Goals were being shipped but the whole thing has tightened up significantly since the Swede got back up to full fitness following the World Cup in Qatar.
Put it this way, you ask Carter-Vickers in a quiet moment what he thinks of having Starfelt next to him and I’ll bet he loves it. Let’s not forget, Starfelt is playing as a right-footer on the left side, which makes his job trickier, but he just gets on with it.
It’s under-the-radar contributions like his which make the Hoops so impressive. There is a squad full of boys who step up when needed.
Alistair Johnston is now on the injured list but Anthony Ralston will just slot straight into the set-up. The Scotland defender was able to cover when Josip Juranovic wasn’t around. He bridged the gap between the Croat’s exit and the Canadian’s arrival. Hearing him say that, whatever happened when he entered the pitch at Hampden was not about him but about the team winning, summed it up.
Of course, players have got to say that. They are hardly going to say anything else.
But with some you can tell they don’t mean it. With Ralston, you could tell that he genuinely does. When he, Juranovic and Johnston all couldn’t play over the festive period, Hatate, arguably the most gifted midfielder at the club, just went into full-back for a couple of games and coasted it.
When Callum McGregor suffered his injury in Leipzig, Matt O’Riley had to take a two-month stint playing as the holding midfielder and he did the job with aplomb. Giorgos Giakoumakis started the season playing second fiddle to Furuhashi and still delivered when the Japanese was rested.
When the Greek had enough of that situation and moved on, Oh Hyeon-gyu has done it. No Jota? James Forrest or Sead Haksabanovic have come good. Liel Abada was around to produce when it wasn’t happening for Maeda.
Aaron Mooy didn’t look like a regular starter when he signed but there was a spell during the middle of the season when he was performing so well he couldn’t be left out. Yuki Kobayashi is the one who is set to step into the fold for Carter-Vickers and he has already done that job with some promise.
Now he’s going to get a six-game opportunity at the end of this season to again show that Postecoglou has back-up boys who can rise to the challenge. As he does so, Starfelt will assume the role of the senior stopper at the heart of the backline starting when Celtic go back to Tynecastle tomorrow looking for the win which will secure the title.
No doubt I’ve set him up for a fall or a mistake, but even if he does, it’d need to some howler to mask his outstanding overall contribution Starfelt has been an absolute rock of the Postecoglou reign. A cornerstone of which success has been built.
The manager and Carter-Vickers would be the very first ones in line to back up that suggestion.
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