ARNE ENGELS hit the headlines in the German Cup last season – for all the WRONG reasons.
Celtic’s £11million summer record recruit is preparing for the Scottish Cup quarter-final against resurgent Hibs at Parkhead at Parkhead on Sunday afternoon.
And the smooth Belgian international midfielder will be hoping there is no chance of an action replay from last term when he and his Augsburg team-mates were expelled from the national trophy by little-known Unterhaching in a sensational collapse.
The Bundesliga side were turned over 2-0 by the third-tier club at their 15,000 capacity stadium for a shock result that dominated the first round of the DFB-Pokal, as the competition is known in its homeland.
Engels played the entire 90 minutes as his team slumped to an embarrassing loss.
LOOKING ON…Arne Engels (extreme left) can only watch as an Unterhaching player attempts to score in Augsburg’s shock 2-0 loss in the German Cup last season.
However, the 21-year-old playmaker has seen his football world turn upside down as he prepares to lift his first title with Brendan Rodgers’ men only three wins from achieving their fourth successive championship.
Engels rolled in a penalty-kick in the Hoops’ 5-2 victory over St Mirren in Paisley at the weekend to edge them closer to the silverware for the 55th time in the club’s glorious history.
Last season, Augsburg completed their league campaign in eleventh place in the 18-team league on 39 points, a massive 51 behind champions Bayer Leverkusen and 21 above rock-bottom Damstadt.
Now, though, it’s all change for the versatile performer who eased into Callum McGregor’s anchorman role when the skipper came off in the 65th minute in Paisley.
Looking ahead, Engels said: “Everything is really competitive, you see the players on the bench, coming in with a fantastic performance from them.
SPOT ON…Arne Engels strokes in a penalty-kick for Celtic’s second goal in the 5-2 win over St Mirren in Paisley at the weekend.
“They are also pushing and it keeps the other guys really awake, on their toes to perform.
“That’s a really strong thing to have.”
Engels applauded the commitment of Yang Hyun-jun, Luke McCowan and Filipe Jota as they replaced McGregor, Adam Idah and Nicolas Kuhn with the scored tied at 2-2 against a battling Saints side.
The South Korean winger contributed a double to propel Rodgers’ side to a 16-point advantage at the Premiership pinnacle.
Engels singled out Yang for a special mention and, speaking to the Scottish Sun, continued: “It was just unbelievable. I am really happy for him.
“Yang is always training 100 per cent, trying to come in, trying to force things, and the last couple of weeks he’s already come in and played fantastically well.
“What is it, two goals and an assist? A really amazing performance from him.
“The team is really glad for Yang. Everybody in the team is happy for each other.
“That makes our team very strong, and also really nice to play in.”
MAKING A POINT…Arne Engels after netting with his penalty-kick in the Premier Sports League Cup Final success over Rangers at Hampden in December.
Engels added: “Everybody here is supporting each other, not doing negative things, saying negative things, everyone is supportive of each other and really welcoming.
“That is also the thing I felt the first months I had been here. It was like: ‘Wow, what a team!’.
“Everyone is so nice to each other and then the performance comes by itself.’’
Engels won his first trophy when he was one of the five entrusted with a penalty in the spot-kick shoot-out following the 3-3 extra-time stalemate with Rangers in the Premier Sports League Cup Final at Hampden in mid-December.
The cool engine-room operator made no mistake as team-mates Adam Idah, Callum McGregor, Reo Hatate and Daizen Maeda did likewise to keep Celtic on course for another domestic clean sweep.
