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The National (Scotland)
The National (Scotland)
Sport
Ewan Paton

Celtic ace Matt O'Riley compared to Frank Lampard after Denmark debut

Matt O'Riley's debut for Denmark last night has resulted in some pretty impressive comparisons for the Celtic attacker.

The 22-year-old made his first appearance for the Danish national team at Windsor Park against Northern Ireland.

It didn't go the way the English-born advanced midfielder would have liked, with Michael O'Neill's men winning 2-0 on home soil. 

O'Riley wore the number 10, which is usually Christian Eriksen's jersey.

And former Northern Ireland goalscorer David Healy admits he can see a bit of Frank Lampard in O'Riley.

The ex-Rangers forward, who scored 36 goals in 95 appearances for his country, said: "He's a wee bit like Frank Lampard. He makes those delayed runs into the box."

Former Motherwell defender Stephen Craigan added: "This season he's taken his game to a new level.

"The one thing he needed to add is goals and he's done that this season. He's signed a new long-term contract and he's going to be going places. If you're a Celtic supporter, you'll enjoy watching him tonight."

O'Riley said post-match: "I'm obviously proud to have played my first game. It's a strange feeling with it being a loss but like you said, it's still a cap for your country which is something to be proud of but yeah, I'd like to help a bit more going forward in terms of winning more games.

"I think we prepared well but I think we didn't really deserve to win. I thought (Northern) Ireland defended really well and worked really hard so credit to them.

"Obviously I want to play regularly for my country going forward and really impact games here. We've got a very strong midfield but I still feel like I'm more than comfortable to play the level.

"For now it's just back to Celtic and try and perform as well as I can to make more squads going forward."

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