By support

1st Mar, 2018 | 12:56pm

'Fantastic' - Brendan Rodgers raves about under-fire Celtic player

Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers has paid tribute to Hoops defender Mikael Lustig as the player faces heavy criticism from a section of the Hoops support.

The Swedish international, who has been struggling for form recently, was hammered by supporters following his sending-off in the recent match against Aberdeen.

Rodgers has come to the defence of the 31-year-old though, claiming that the player has been a “great servant” to the Hoops in his five years at the club.

“It was just unfortunate for Mika that he got sent off at Pittodrie,” Rodgers said, as quoted by the Scotsman.

“He is a great servant for me. He has put himself out there since I came to Celtic. He struggled with injuries earlier but since I’ve come in, the game time he has played for me has been fantastic.”

Lustig, who has been a mainstay of the Hoops side this season with 40 appearances, has saw his performances deteriorate badly in recent months.

He was very poor in the Old Firm derby in December, where he was almost responsible for gifting Rangers a goal, then followed that up with poor displaces recently against Partick Thistle and Zenit.

This was followed by his ridiculous sending-off against Aberdeen, where he went recklessly challenged Gary Mackay-Steven whilst already on a yellow card.

The Swede is set to miss the Bhoys’ next league match – which will be against either Dundee or Rangers – and his absence from the side gives either Cristian Gamboa or more likely Anthony Ralston a chance to stake their claim as the Hoops’ next right-back.

In other Celtic news, if the game goes ahead Charly Musonda should start against Morton

Don’t miss out on breaking and exclusive Celtic news by clicking here for our brilliant 24/7 updates on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.