PAULO BERNARDO has been at Celtic for only a year and a half – and has already won EVERY domestic honour available to the gifted midfielder.
The Portuguese playmaker signed a £3.5million five-year deal in the summer after his impressive initial season-long loan switch from Benfica.
Bernardo thumped in a crucial opening goal in the Hoops’ vitally important 2-1 derby triumph over Philippe Clement’s Ibrox side at Parkhead just over a year ago as the champions powered their way to a third successive title victory.
The 22-year-old smooth operator also had a major say in the Scottish Cup Final victory over the same opponents at Hampden on May 25 when he seized the moment to thrust forward from the centre circle and head for enemy territory.
HAPPY BHOY…Paulo Bernardo completes his silverware hat-trick as he holds aloft the League Cup as Arne Engels (extreme right) and team-mates applaud the Celtic fans.
As he neared the penalty box, Bernardo unleashed a vicious, swering drive that totally bamboozled Jack Butland. The keeper could only push the ball to his right and that was all Adam Idah required to thrash the silverware winner into the net.
On Sunday, the stylish middle-of-the-park performer celebrated again with the Govan club once again vanquished, this time on penalty-kicks following a 3-3 extra-time stalemate in the Premier Sports League Cup Final.
Brendan Rodgers had a massive question to answer before the Hampden kick-off. It was a straight choice between Bernardo and Arne Engels, the club’s most expensive recruit in history at the £11million he cost from Bundesliga outfit Augsburg on deadline day.
The former Portuguese Under-21 international skipper got the nod ahead of the Belgian to underline the faith the manager has in his ability and, importantly, his big-game temperament.
Bernardo lasted until the 71st minute before Engels made his introduction and the expensive purchase set up Nicolas Kuhn for the third goal in the 87th minute.
HIS MASTER’S VOICE…Paulo Bernardo listens in as boss Brendan Rodgers delivers advice to his Celtic players during the League Cup Final triumph at Hampden.
That looked like being the deciding goal, but Celtic, mired in defensive errors throughout the encounter, failed to deal with a straightforward right-wing cross and Danilo got in between Cameron Carter-Vickers and Liam Scales for a free header smack in front of Kasper Schmeichel to force the game into extra-time.
It’s history now there was no scoring in the added-on half-hour and the Cup was won 5-4 on penalty-kicks after Schmeichel had plunged to his left to save from Ridvan Yilmaz and Daizen Maeda, who had scored the second goal in actual play, knocked in the clincher to earn Celtic a word record 119th trophy.
Bernardo has clearly bought into entire ethos of the Parkhead club and reflected on the weekend success as he said: “I feel very good, I’m very happy with this achievement.
“We are Celtic so we always try to win and we did it. Our mentality is to win every game.
“We had a very difficult game, the opponent was very good. They didn’t make things easy, but we showed our quality and mentality in the penalties.”
SCARF ACE…Paulo Bernardo celebrates his first success as a Celtic player after the 5-0 title win over Kilmarnock at Rugby Park on May 15. A Scottish Cup medal arrived 10 days later.
Bernardo, speaking to the Daily Record, continued: “I played three competitions that I could win and we won them all as a team.
“Everything is perfect right now. I’m very happy for this moment.
“The fans support us every game. They always push us for the win in the final moments. I’m very happy we can celebrate this moment with them.”
The former Lisbon club’s prospect also applauded team-mate Maeda who scored a brilliant goal to give Rodgers’ men a 2-1 lead on the hour mark and then whipped in the winner from the spot to settle a see-sawing confrontation.
Bernardo added: “I’m very happy for Daizen. What a run, what a goal. Everything was good there.”
We can all hope the Portuguese ace and all at Parkhead maintain the feelgood factor all the way to another treble.
