RETURNING to the Belgium set-up for the first time since the Euro 2016 finals last summer would have been a daunting enough prospect for Celtic centre half Dedryck Boyata during the international break as it was.

But having to pit himself against a certain Thierry Henry, who new manager Roberto Martinez has drafted in to his backroom team, ahead of games against Greece and Russia will have done nothing to calm any nerves he may have been feeling.

Fortunately, Boyata, whose unexpected resurgence has been one of the most uplifting stories in Scottish football this season, relished his exchanges with the legendary goalscorer both on the training field and off it.

He feels he has benefitted hugely, along with all of his countrymen, from working under the man whose goals helped Arsenal to go undefeated in the Premier League in the 2003/04 season and become immortalised as “The Invincibles”.

“He’s great,” the defender said as he set his sights on helping Celtic extend their own 36 game unbeaten domestic run the Ladbrokes Premiership game against Hearts at Tynecastle tomorrow. “He’s unbelievable.

“I think he is a very good person. He’s someone I’ve got to know as a manager and someone who has helped me. He has given me a lot in the time we’ve spent together. I had a long talk with him this week, he’s a very nice person.

“Thierry gave me lots of advice, but he is someone who plays with you mentally. He tries to test you but, honestly, I enjoyed the moments I had with him.”

Boyata, who won his third cap for his country when he came on near the end of Belgium’s friendly with Russia in Sochi on Tuesday evening, discovered to his cost that Henry has lost none of his lethal finishing prowess since retiring from playing.

“He takes part in training,” he said. “There was one session when we had a game and he scored a goal right at the end, the winning goal!

“I wasn’t marking him at the time, but I was still on the losing team. It didn’t feel good because he actually celebrated for about five minutes. But most of time he works on passing drills. He has also worked with the strikers on their shooting. If I was a striker I would have liked that a lot.”

Brendan Rodgers, the Celtic manager, stressed yesterday that going the entire domestic season unbeaten, as the Parkhead club have a realistic chance of doing, was not a great priority for him this season.

But Boyata revealed that the Glasgow club’s remarkable exploits in the Ladbrokes Premiership, Betfred Cup and William Hill Scottish Cup under Rodgers had captured the attention of his team mates in the Belgian squad.

“A lot of the lads have asked me how far away we were from winning the title,” he said. “People are interested in how the season has been going. They ask questions because they have heard about how well Celtic are going, they can see it with the results. With Belgium we have a lot of players who play in the UK so they know about Celtic.”

Forcing his way back into the Belgium side was a major milestone in what has been an incredible journey for Boyata, who looked almost certain to be moved on after hardly featuring under Rodgers early on, this season. He has no intention of giving up his place and is hopeful of being involved in the Russia 2018 qualifier against Estonia in June.

“It felt very good to be part of the national team,” he said. “Given what happened right at the beginning of the season, I would never have expected that moment. It made it feel even better knowing what happened in between.

“I was there almost a year ago for the Euros and then I missed the Euros. You don’t know what is going to happen. But when you get back, you want to stay there, so that’s up to me.

“It’s very difficult to break into the Belgian team. I’m not going to lie. There is a lot of competition in there. But there is only one person that we have to convince and that’s Roberto Martinez. I’ll try my best to get into the side by play as well as I can.

“Obviously it starts with training. Whenever you get a chance you have to show it on the pitch. I’ve been training there, but I haven’t had my chance on the pitch yet. I’ll take my time. Patience is the key and I’ll work hard and we’ll see what happens.”

Being involved with his national team has also underlined to the 26-year-old, who was signed from Manchester City by former manager Ronny Deila for £1.5 million in 2015, that moving to Glasgow was the right decision.

“When I left Manchester City I was being selected for the national team,” he said. “I was playing a few, not a lot, of games. So when I moved on I was trying to find a club where I could show myself and play as much as I can. That was the first goal.

“Coming to Celtic I was asked about the national team. My first thought was Celtic and playing as well as I can. If the national team came then it came.

“Last season I was playing for Celtic and was called up for the national team and was called up for the Euros. So I will never regret this choice because I’m playing games and I’ve been called up for the national team.

“If we win the title after everything I’ve been through it will be a great achievement for myself. But then we will have the qualifiers next season and that will be very important. Yes, I think I’m in the right place at the moment.”