Ange Postecoglou labelled Carl Starfelt’s first Celtic goal as the "ugliest but yet most-significant" of the Hoops’ victory at Kilmarnock.
The 27-year-old, who missed the majority of pre-season after sustaining a hamstring injury while on international duty in June, put a two-month injury spell behind him as he wheeled away in celebration after netting his first club goal in Celtic’s rout at Rugby Park.
It was a five-star performance from the visitors who blew away their Ayrshire counterparts. Kyogo Furuhashi was able to finish off a slick move for the opener before Jota’s long-range stunner and acrobatic bicycle kicks from Moritz Jenz and Giorgos Giakoumakis earned a well-deserved win.
However, it was Starfelt’s close-range effort at the second attempt which was hailed as the most important by Postecoglou.
"I am really pleased for him to get a goal he has been trying really hard," he told the Daily Record. "It was probably the ugliest of the five, but probably the most significant! Carl has worked really hard in rehab.
"He was really frustrated after such a strong season for us last year and then he went away on international duty and got injured and missed pretty much all of the pre-season for us.
“He has worked really hard to get himself back to a position where he is available again. Credit to him, he is a really good pro. He comes in every day and works really hard in training and he’s a really strong team-mate.
“We want to have multiple threats, it’s not about one person being the focal point of our scoring opportunities and avenues.
"We are getting centre-backs chipping in which is also good. We just want to be a team that can hurt teams in many different ways. I thought the quality of our goals were excellent and the quality of our general play attacking-wise was good.”
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