DEDRYCK Boyata turned 27 yesterday but as far as Celtic’s Belgian defender is concerned the partying can wait.
This time last year, the Parkhead side toasted their BetFred Cup final success by travelling for a Christmas party in London.
The end result, by the time they arrived at Fir Park, Lanarkshire, the following Saturday, was one of the few near misses of Rodgers’ time at the club, as they trailed the Fir Park side 2-0 and were pegged back again at 3-3 before Tom Rogic’s late winner.
Instead, it will be very much business as usual this time as Boyata attempts to get his read round the statistical anomaly of facing the same opponents three times in the space of seven days.
But then every day is a celebration anyway for Boyata, considering at the beginning of 2017 he felt so removed from the first team picture that he was visiting the Lennoxtown gym and working out until 1am.
“Exactly, Sunday was a very good early birthday present for me,” said Boyata. “Of course, titles like this are something to treasure, when you look back in 10 years or more. You can’t just get used to it. It is always a good thing to win a medal, it always means something.
“Me, I take it very importantly, I would say. I have all my medals put away in my safe!
“But we only had one day off then we were back in today and then the game tomorrow. So to go out and enjoy, you need to think about the game on Wednesday.
“Everybody had to make their own decision about celebrating. But I am sure I made the right one so I am fine!”
It is fair to say Boyata takes a fairly dim view of being forced to play the same opponents three times in a row – the kind of thing which doesn’t help the view of Scottish football in the eyes of the world and one that can cause feuds to run from one match to another, not least when there are disrupted, controversial incidents along the way.
Motherwell versus Celtic promises to be a case par excellence.
“To play three matches in a row against the same team? It is crazy, I would say it is crazy,” said Boyata. “But we have to do it. I am not going to complain or whatever.
“It doesn’t look good. I think it will be a hard game, we know from the final that Motherwell are a good team and a hard team to play against,” he added.
“They have just lost the cup. They will want to win that game and make it difficult for us.
“It is a game we will have to take very seriously.”
As for Sinclair-gate, Boyata joins the case for the defence.
“If you know Scott Sinclair even if you put two men on top of his back and he has the opportunity to score he will score, he will never fall down.
“I am speaking from experience, if he is in front of goal and you try to pull him down he is going to stand up.”
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here