A section of Celtic fans took to Twitter to hail Filip Benkovic for his first-half performance in their club’s Scottish Premiership clash against Hibernian on Saturday.
The deadline day loan signing from Leicester City started alongside Dedryck Boyata and Mikael Lustig in a three-man defence, with James Forrest and Kieran Tierney in the wing-back positions.
Many Celtic followers were impressed with what they saw from Benkovic, with comments including “monster” and “what a player”.
This Is Futbol has rounded up some of the best tweets below.
COMMENTARY:
Who can blame the Celtic fans for getting excited about the giant young defender? Forced to watch so many average centre-backs since Virgil Van Dijk pulled the Rolls Royce out of the gravel and purred south of the border, there is a sense the club have a real gem in their ranks. The problem is that Benkovic has signed on loan and Leicester City can, as the player himself has revealed, recall him in the January transfer window. Based on the first weeks of his spell at Celtic, Benkovic looks a unit who is made for top-level competition. He is a dominant figure in the air, as you might expect for a 6ft 4in powerhouse (source: Transfermarkt), mobile enough to keep up with most strikers in a foot race and very comfortable on the ball. He certainly doesn’t pale in comparison with Belgium international Boyata, long considered the best of Celtic’s defenders. In fact, many more performances like his one against Hibs, and Benkovic will soon be regarded as the main man.
We look so much better with Benkovic playing. Class act.
— Steven Matthew Quinn (@StevieMQuinn03) October 20, 2018
Benkovic is ma hero
— Sean ???? (@SeanTeven) October 20, 2018
Benkovic looking better every time I watch him
— celts2 game crisis (@shalomyawumf) October 20, 2018
Benkovic will stroll this league … Class above @ClydeSSB
— Tony CFC (@Green_Curve67) October 20, 2018
Hope Benkovic gets a run of games. Impressed so far #Celtic
— GripperStebson (@GripperStebson) October 20, 2018
We’ll miss Benkovic when he leaves more than we’ve missed Dembele. He’s absolutely solid.
— Kieren Kerr (@KierenKerr) October 20, 2018
Buy Benkovic right now. Monster
— Murphy2706 (@Murphy270678) October 20, 2018
benkovic btw what a player
— calum (@calumhughes67) October 20, 2018
Benkovic is Hendry after he's been to see the great Oz and realised the footballing ability was within him all along
— Patrick McGuire (@paddimir) October 20, 2018