With two crucial goals to keep Celtic’s near legendary winning streak in the Scottish Premiership going, Dedryck Boyata appears to have regained the full trust of Brendan Rodgers in recent weeks.
Watching the team from the Celtic Park bench for the vast majority of the season, the Belgian defender has only made five appearances for Celtic in the league this season, with four of them coming in the past four weeks.
Of course, the two goals will have helped his position, pushing either Jozo Simunovic or Erik Sviatchenko to one side, yet the player, during his tough period, never once doubted his ability, as he explained to DH in Belgium.
He said: “I played every game last season. It’s not because I didn’t play that I was going to doubt what I could do. I came back to training after everyone. Preseason was over, they played, I wasn’t fit. Then, when I was, the team was playing well and I needed to wait my turn. That’s all.”
Explaining he came close to sorting out a move in January, Boyata is grateful for Rodgers’ decision to put him back in the team against Albion Rovers in the SFA Cup, before repaying his faith by netting the winning goal against St Johnstone three days later.
With another cup game against Inverness Caledonian Thistle on Saturday, the defender now has every right to believe he will be on Brendan Rodgers’ team sheet, unless the manager decides to rest him.
However, with the next game a week later, that seems highly unlikely.
