Jamie Redknapp admits what he loved about Matt O’Riley at Celtic after Brighton goal sinks Man City.
This will be a bitter-sweet update on Matt O’Riley at Brighton as the former Celtic fan favourite made his Premier League debut yesterday.
Matt O’Riley was a huge fan favourite before he left Celtic for Brighton in a £25m+ deal in the summer.
Unfortunately for the Denmark international, O’Riley suffered an injury on his Brighton debut in the Carabao Cup against Crawley Town in August.
Now back in the Brighton first-team, O’Riley was brought on as a second-half substitute against Man City when The Seagulls were 1-0 down.
And in the dying minutes of the game at the Etihad, the former Celtic midfielder popped up to do what he does best and did this:
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And it was that that made Jamie Redknapp admit something about O’Riley when the Danish midfielder used to play for Celtic.
Jamie Redknapp gushes over ex-Celtic hero Matt O’Riley after Brighton goal
Speaking after the match on Sky Sports, Redknapp was interviewing O’Riley and said he was a ‘big fan’ of his whilst he was at Celtic.
Redknapp told Sky Sports, “Matt, Jamie Redknapp, congratulations. I’m a big fan. I followed your Celtic career very closely and I always loved the way you played.
“You’re so cultured on the ball. I spoke about that injury and how that feeling is and then to have that emotion in that goal you scored must have felt so good.”
What’s been said about Matt O’Riley since he left Celtic for Brighton
O’Riley still holds a special place in the hearts of everyone connected with the Parkhead club. The Brighton fans were ecstatic after signing the former Celtic ace.
Matt O’Riley of Celtic celebrates scoring the sixth goal during the Cinch Scottish Premiership match between Celtic FC and St. Johnstone FC at Celt…
Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images
Excitement on the south coast ramped up when the £25m purchase was announced. Chris Sutton said at the time that O’Riley was ‘downgrading’ by leaving Celtic for Brighton.
Owen Hargreaves is also a big fan of O’Riley after he admitted he ‘couldn’t believe’ no other team picked up the former MK Dons man before Celtic did after he left for Brighton.
However, Celtic got back to life without O’Riley with a win in their first fixture without their midfield hero.
Whilst the fans still miss him, the results of the team have not as Celtic remain unbeaten domestically this season and are on course to get out of the Champions League group stages after the impressive Celtic Park win over RB Leipzig midweek.
