Paulo Bernardo

Paulo Bernardo has told Rangers to pipe down with their Premier Sports Cup protests because Celtic deserved to lift the trophy.

The Hoops ace shrugged off the controversy that’s raged on in the wake of Sunday’s epic encounter at Hampden. Brendan Rodgers’s men secured the cup after a dramatic penalty shoot out on the back of six-goal thriller over 90 minutes and extra-time.



But Ibrox chiefs have raged at the flashpoint at Hampden when Vaclav Cerny was tugged back by Liam Scales right on the edge of the box – with several ex-officials claiming the Light Blues should have been awarded a penalty – and new Gers CEO Patrick Stewart has already written to the SFA demanding an explanation

Bernardo insisted Rangers were not robbed – because he’s convinced Celts were worthy winners. He said: "We don't focus on that decision. We just move forward now.


We won the trophy after a very good game and that's all we think about. It was a difficult game on Sunday.

"Both teams played well and it was a good game for supporters to watch. But we had almost 70 per cent of the ball and I think we deserved to win the cup


In the final moments, we had the quality to win the game and the players did so well in the shootout. When it came to the big pressure moments, we delivered. Our objective was to win the trophy and we managed to do that.”


Bernardo savoured the cup success but he insisted the huge character shown at Hampden to secure the trophy with drive on the Hoops in their quest for a clean sweep this season. The Parkhead men are in a commanding position in the Premiership as they get back to business against Dundee United at Tannadice on Sunday.

Bernardo insisted no one at the club will take their foot off the gas. The Portugal Under-21 skipper – speaking at Celtic FC Foundation’s Christmas party – said: "Our mentality is to win every game and we did it again.

"All we wanted was to lift that trophy and it felt so good for us as a team and a club. The mentality is so strong within the squad

No matter what, we know that we have to find a way to win. We won the League Cup and now we move on to the next one.

"It was important to win on Sunday and we celebrated – but now we move on. We want to win all the trophies, of course, but we need to take it step by step and not look too far ahead

 

Would start big games for me all day long. Reckon there's a real player there.

 

Celtic midfielder Paulo Bernardo revealed that he can't wait to celebrate a traditional Scottish Christmas with his Portuguese family this year.


It is probably apt because it was this time last season Bernardo announced himself as a bona fide member of the Celtic family as he exploded onto the Scottish football scene.

The Portugal under-21 midfielder scored his first goal for the club in a 3-0 win over Dundee at Dens Park on Boxing Day. Things got even better when he followed that up with a sumptuous half-volley in the 2-1 Scottish Premiership victory over Rangers in the traditional festive Glasgow derby and a man-of-the-match display in a 3-0 win against St Mirren in the first fixture of the New Year when he contributed two assists. The purple patch continued when he bagged a stunning opener in a 5-0 Scottish Cup triumph over Buckie Thistle.


Based on that evidence alone it is not hard to see why Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers forked out £3.5 million for the former Benfica academy graduate in the summer and tied him down to a five-year deal.

Now Bernardo hopes to repeat his festive exploits this season in full view of his father Paulo, mother Annabella and sister Anna who will get to see him in action over Christmas and New Year.

Just don't ask Bernardo to cook the festive turkey with all the trimmings as he readily admits he's not that way inclined.


Bernardo said: "My family are coming to Scotland for Christmas. I will get to spend time with them my father, mother and sister.

"They are coming to one game, I think. It’s nice, I have my girlfriend here during the year too. It will be great. A Scottish Christmas is just the same as a Portuguese one, I will spend time with my family and have a nice dinner. Do I cook? Nah! Maybe I will have a glass of wine, I’m not a fan of wine but maybe I will have just one."

Can we expect Bernardo to bulge the net at Ibrox in January?

He said: "This time last season was a good period for me as I scored against Rangers and that was good. I enjoyed that. It was a good moment. I felt then that I became a Celtic player and part of the Celtic family. Do I want to repeat that feat at Ibrox? Yeah, in every game I want to score goals!”


Meanwhile, Bernardo insists that Celtic cannot afford to look too far ahead as they still have two home Premiership matches against Motherwell and St Johnstone to negotiate first before the mouth-watering January 2nd clash against Rangers at Ibrox.

The champions were held 0-0 by Dundee United at Tannadice in freezing and blustery conditions on Sunday which saw Celtic spill two points for only the second time in the campaign as the gap at the top of the table was reduced to nine points.

Celtic face Motherwell at home on Boxing Day and the 22-year-old insists that they want to get the Tayside stalemate out of their system once and for all.

Bernardo said: "Sometimes it rains in Portugal too! But yeah, in these kinds of conditions, they are difficult games and we need to be prepared for that. It’s certainly always difficult to play in those conditions.

“It’s difficult for both teams. We want to play football, they want to play football. We have a different style but we need to be prepared for that and try to play our best football too.

"We have a busy schedule full of games so we need to prepare for the next one, Motherwell at home, and we want to win. We will only think about the next one after that. We take things on a game-by-game basis.”

Whilst every player will tell you they prefer playing matches to training in adverse weather conditions, Bernardo believes that it is the high-octane intensity of Celtic's training regime under serial winner Brendan Rodgers that has seen the team carve out an early nine-point lead in the Scottish Premiership title race long before Santa Claus has placed the presents under the Christmas tree.

Bernardo said: "Every player prefers games to training. However, our training is so important, and without it, we would not have prepared for the matches. Celtic are playing like this because of our hard work during the season, not just in the games. That is why training is so important to us but games are games and every player likes to play football matches.

"We are nine points away from second place so it’s a very good position for us in the league table. We are happy with the position but we have to continue winning. The schedule is tough. We have a lot of games now coming up. We need to be prepared for that.”

 

He starts every game just now for me. It’s Calmac, Bernardo and then the rest fighting out for a place for me.

He seems to be the easy option to drop to a certain extent which is an issue for him, and one I * hate, he’s that because he is professional as *. He will start and put in the effort, and he will do the exact same when he gets off the bench whilst cheering on whoever has started infront of him.


The guy who I think deserves the 3rd spot is McCowan, and he has that issue more than Bernardo. Too easy to not give him the spot, even though IMO he’s nailed it down with his performances more than Hatate or Engels.

 

Hopefully starts today instead of Hatate, we need his energy and goal scoring threat.

 

It’s more likely to be him and Hatate, think it’s more him and Engels fighting for a place, and Hatate and McCowan fighting for one.

Hatate and McCowan are the more flair creative ones, Bernardo and Engels box to box possession, technical hard working box to box making the runs beyond the striker from deep, with less creativity but more end product probably.



End product part of that probably harsh on McCowan, he’s shown a lot of it, but I mean it in the they pick out the final ball carefully when it’s on. The other two do it when they see any opportunity, and might not come off. And that’s a balance we need, more unpredictable

 

You hit the nail on the head mate, Hatate and flair have not been used very often in the. same sentence of late, when he is on fire he is brilliant but he has not been on fire for a wee while unfortunately.

 

It’s not been, he’s been largely frustrating and has been backed for a start and left on longer not whipped off for other options by Rodgers so it’s not the safe option being overly coached into the team, taking the safe option, which was the problem last year. This season BR’s trusting the players and allowing them to the freedom. And tbf, the Aberdeen game I was screaming for Hatate to come off and he showed his quality for the winner.


He’s overthinking things just now, trying too hard, forcing it. He needs one game where it just clicks for him. He’s got the platform to thrive and not curtailed by tactics. But he’s clearly annoyed with himself and the more he frustrates himself, and by extension us as fans, he forces it more and it spirals. McCowan deserves to play before him, who’s been the opposite.

 

Very good again today.

 

Thought he was good again today, thought him and Engels worked well together, could be wrong but I don't think they've been in the same team very often?

 

I'm his biggest fan but thought he was a wee bit off it at first, as the game went on things started to click with everyone though, he's a quality player.

 

I love his workrate, his physicality and most of all, his extraordinary levels of awareness. It means he rarely loses possession and he never dawdles. You hardly ever see him on the ball looking for a pass, which means he keeps the ball moving quickly. There was a one-touch pass today that broke the Motherwell press that really wowed me.

On the negative side, I still think he needs to work on his basic technique (I know that's a minority opinion) and he and McGregor do seem to get their wires crossed sometimes. A couple of times today, I saw him ignore what McGregor was asking him to do and instead do his own thing. I don't know if that was maybe prearranged between him and McGregor to catch the Motherwell midfield out or if he and McGregor really just aren't on the same wavelength in certain moments.

 

I agree with the technique thing. Also isn't enough of a creative/goal threat. He has 5 goal contributions which is lowest of any of our midfielders.

He's a good player but he has alot of growing to do for me.

 

Started in the 7-1 Dortmund defeat and Brendan has been reluctant to pair them again since from the start

 

Can see why after that tbf, but that game was obv a one off. I'd be tempted to play them together more after yesterday.

 

Thought he was a bit careless yesterday, he's not really doing much in games atm want to see more from him.

 

Played well especially second half, some great technique and a beautiful through ball for Daizen's goal.

 

Excellent today.

 

Love this *

 

Another good game today and hopefully he starts against the scum.