Filip Benković

Filip Benkovic: “When we went out on to the pitch at the beginning our fans were on fire. The atmosphere was crazy and they gave us the wings to play.”

“The memory of it will live with me forever and I want to enjoy as many of them as I can.”

 

Get Jozo to the plastic surgeon and send him down the road to Leicester..

 

He gets us, we get him, plz stay xoxo

 

Welcome indeed

 

Filip Benkovic has urged Celtic to play with the same fire in their belly against Livingston tomorrow afternoon as they did against Leipzig in the Europa League.


Brendan Rodgers side kept their ambitions of progressing into the latter stages of the tournament alive with a pulsating 2-1 win over the Bundesliga side but as they head back into domestic football, Benkovic wants to see the same desire.

The Croatian defender is expected to sit out of the game due to the artificial surface at Livingston but he expects his colleagues to carry the baton as Celtic look to continue their recent form. The Parkhead side have scored 23 goals in their last five domestic games and have shipped just two, with Benkovic eager to see more of the same.

We must forget about the surface and go for the win,” he said.

“I want to play on Sunday because it’s very important for young players to play but it will be the coach’s decision. I had a problem before I played on Kilmarnock’s pitch so we’ll see what happens – we’ll speak about this at training. We all work hard every day and we all support whoever is chosen to play.

“But it’s not really important where we play. If we played them in the street behind the stadium we must play in the same way we did against Leipzig because if we relax even a little bit it can kick us in the face.

“So we must play really aggressively and believe that we can win. In football you have good times and bad times and our recent performances have been very good. We have played really well and we hope that we can keep that going this weekend.”

Benkovic has been a calm and steady presence for Celtic at the back since his arrival on the final day of the transfer window. The 21-year-old eased his way through Thursday night’s win over Leipzig and his burgeoning partnership with Dedryck Boyata has an air of solidity about it.


Frustratingly for Rodgers it is one that could be broken up with Leicester having an option to recall Benkovic if necessary in January. For now, though, the defender is focused on making the biggest impression that he can at Celtic.


It is down to the coach who plays,” he said. “We all train hard and everyone wants to play. But I do think that Dedryck and I understand each other very well on the pitch. That can get better if we play some more together but it is the coach who picks the team.

“Since I have come to this club what I see is that every player gives everything not just on the pitch but on the training ground too. And so everyone wants to play. I feel like I have already learned a lot from Dedryck and he is a very important player for the team because he has so much experience. “But there are lots of players who want to play. I just have to keep working hard and give everything to be in the team. For now everything is going very well.

“While I am here I will give everything because these supporters deserve that at the very least.

“It was a very important three points because it keeps us in the mix to go into the next stage. We will now look to win our two remaining [Europa League] games; it’s important we do that to give ourselves a chance to qualify.

“Should we get through, I do not know what will happen for me. It’s not my decision to stay here or go back to Leicester. I just play and I will continue to give everything."

The Croatian under-21 internationalist relished the atmosphere at Celtic Park on Thursday night and revealed that Rodgers urged the players not to be afraid of the pressure of what was a must-win game but to embrace it.


The manager told us before the game that if we believed in ourselves we would get the result,” said Benkovic. “He told us not to worry about the pressure but to go and play our own game. He said if we did that we could get all three points and he was right. We didn’t feel pressure. We just felt that we wanted to do our best and show how we can play.

“Coming out onto the pitch it felt that the stadium was on fire. All those people, it felt like they gave us wings. It was very good.

“When I played for Dinamo Zagreb it was a different situation because there were some political problems and so many fans stayed away. But the experience at Parkhead on Thursday….every player would want to have been part of this.

“The memory of it will live with me forever and I want to enjoy as many of them as I can.”

 

Have to admit he's fkn seriously brilliant.

Absolutely brilliant in the air and brilliant at big switch passes out to the wings.

 

If Maguire stays another season at Leicester we might keep him another season, hopefully!

 

As a few have said just send Jozo down to Leicester and tell them it’s Benkovic.

 

Yes he is exactly what we've been needing. Our Scouts know that he will be leaving so they have 7 months from now to find a replacement, surely to * they can do their job and target a quality CB in that time.

 

A recon 15m woukd get this guy...if we got him and another striker a would be over the moon

 

I genuinely want him to do things to me.

 

It wouldn’t. Best hope is a loan next season but can’t see that happening either

 

I'm trying not to get attached to the big * as I know he won't be here long. If we are very lucky we'll have him until the end of the season, even that is doubtful with Maguire injured at Leicester. How I wish he was our player.

 

I'm already there, I want him on a long contract, the guys solid and seems to have a genuine love for our club hoping big boyata will stay too

Sent from my MI 5 using Tapatalk

 

Confirmed by Claude Puel he will stay with us until the end of the season 100%

 

Good. Obviously sees he's enjoying it here and excelling

 

Thank *! But we still need at least 2 CB’s.

 

That's excellent news, was concerned about what we were going to do when he left.

 

He sees we have a chance of progression in Europa League which will help Leicester in the long run.