Ahead of Anderlecht’s crucial clash with Celtic in the Champions League, DH decided to have a chat with the Belgian side’s goalkeeper Matz Sels, currently on loan from Newcastle.
Bought by the Magpies from Gent for just under £6m, the 25-year-old never really convinced Rafa Benitez, who quickly replaced him in the Championship, leading to his desire to play regular football elsewhere for the current campaign.
Now playing elite European football in Anderlecht, the former Belgium U21 will be readying himself to feature against Celtic on Tuesday night, a club he has a special affinity towards.
Speaking to DH in Belgium, Sels explained how this love for Brendan Rodgers’ side came about.
He said: “My best friend is a Celtic fan and he took me there twice when I was at Newcastle last year. It’s close to Glasgow, and the atmosphere is great, especially for the game against Rangers.
“We went to a game against Ross County. It was great, but we returned a few months later for a game against Rangers. It’s the same atmosphere than huge European games. Celtic-Rangers is something else. There’s 60,000 people crazy about football who sing for 90 minutes. It’s fantastic”.
His friend, Tom Pietermaat, who plays for Germinal Beerschot, also revealed Sels left the game with a little souvenir.
He said: “He bought a Celtic scarf. He wandered around with him. At the time of the Champions League draw, he told me he wouldn’t know what to do with the scarf if they drew Celtic. When it happened, I told him he needed to hang it in his goal for the game, to commemorate the moment”.
We’ll have to see whether or not the Newcastle loanee does that on Tuesday night.
As for Pietermaat’s dream scenario, it’s for Sels to concede in the 90th minute after keeping Celtic at bay for the first 89.
Some friend, right?
