Liel Abada insists Celtic centurion James Forrest provides him with daily advice and inspiration.
The Israeli winger is full of admiration for the Parkhead hero, who penned the latest fantastic chapter in his fairytale career with a weekend hat-trick against Hibs in the Hoops’ 6-1 victory. Abada was just eight years of age when Forrest scored his first top-team goal for Celtic on debut against Motherwell in May 2010.
Over a dozen years later, the attacker has netted in every top-flight season since and has now taken his overall tally to the 100 mark. With 20 winners’ medals and 99 assists also in the bank, few would argue with Ange Postecoglou ’s assessment that Forrest is a club legend. At the age of 31, there is still more to come before he is done and, as a fellow winger, Abada rates his colleague in the highest regards as both a player and a person.
A decade his junior, the former Maccabi Petah Tikva star looks destined for a career at the highest level himself. Adaba knows it will take dedication, mentality and ability to do it for a lengthy period of time. And he sees how it’s achieved by watching Forrest
He’s picking up information and tips from his senior pal every single day as they work together at Lennoxtown. Abada said: “Jamesy is a really good friend and he has been able to teach me so much. He has been at the club for a long time, has played a lot of games and scored a lot of goals.
“I can learn so much from him and I was so happy to see him score a hat-trick. I speak with him all the time and he gives me a lot of advice.
“What I admire most about him is his movement and technique and his finishing is good. I’m happy to have him as a team-mate and, hopefully, he can keep scoring for us because he deserves it.”
Jokingly quizzed on what he was doing all those years ago as a kid when Forrest was firing the first of his 100, he smiled: “I was at school, I think I had just started to play football. This has always been my dream. I am really happy to be here and I am really happy to play for Celtic. This is a really unbelievable club with unbelievable fans. Hopefully, I play a lot of games here.”
That’s what Forrest has done and, when he considered what sort of mentality it requires to go on successfully for as long and score in 14 consecutive seasons, Abada continued: “You have to keep working at it every day and in every game. This is the most important thing.”
Forrest’s value to the group is beyond question. Postecoglou made it crystal clear when a new contract was dished out at the end of last season that there was no sentiment about it.
For a start, the manager always felt there would be occasions when his Scotland international would need to deliver. The weekend treble against Hibs on his first start of the campaign showed that was the correct call, just as some impressive outings from the bench in the matches beforehand had signalled.
Forrest, though, is just as important behind the scenes. The likes of he and Callum McGregor are glue which help bond the dressing room. Homegrown talents, boys who know the club inside-out and can guide newer acquisitions with both words and deeds.
Abada loves it. Last season having just started his adventure in Scotland, he was grateful to have countryman Nir Bitton as a big brother.
He said: “Nir helped me a lot last year because it was my first time coming to Scotland and I didn’t speak English. I didn’t know the language but he always looked after me. It really helped me. We are still friends, we still speak via Facetime and I wish him all the best.”
But, with Bitton gone, Abada is doing superbly with his English and now has the rest of the squad for buddies. Abada explained: “Everyone in the team is good friends and are really together. Everyone teaches the young players because we have a lot.”
It’s almost astounding to consider that, given the signings made by Postecoglou in the past 16 months and the levels of talent at his disposal, his hat-trick hero of the weekend may still be stuck behind Jota, Abada, Sead Haksabanovic and Daizen Maeda in the queue for a wing spot when everyone is fit and firing.
However, there is no negative in that for the manager and Abada is thrilled that responsibility can be shared around the entire group when it comes to scoring and making goals. Having been called out for a lack of ruthlessness in recent weeks, Celtic responded in stunning style against Hibs with their half dozen.
Abada said: “We have a very good squad full of very good players. Every player in the team can be in the line-up.
“One game I score, one game Jamesy will score, one game Daizen will score, Giakoumakis, Kyogo, Haksa. This is really good because that is our job.
“It was a good win and I think it was important to get our confidence back in the league after losing to Leipzig. I’m happy about the scoreline and we could have scored more. Sometimes in football you score and sometimes you miss.
“I’m not worried about statistics. For me it is all about doing the job on the pitch. It doesn’t matter if I score or other players score, as long as someone scores and we win every game.”
READ NEXT
