Infamous Brendan Rodgers Celtic spat deemed 'so unnecessary' by former Hoops star as he lifts lid on Parkhead exit

Dedryck Boyata lifted eight trophies during his four-year spell at Celtic - but it wasn’t all plain sailing for the Belgian defender as he finally lifted the lid on his infamous spat with current boss Brendan Rodgers that led to his Parkhead exit.

The centre-back signed for the Hoops from Manchester City back in 2015 under Ronny Deila and proved to be adept at playing the ball out from the back and offering a goal threat at the opposite end.

His relationship with Rodgers initially got off on the right foot after the Northern Irishman replaced Deila in the dugout, but it ended on a particularly sour note towards the end of 2018.

Subject of intense transfer speculation that summer and with rumours of a potential move to the Premier League swirling, Boyata declared himself unfit to play for Celtic in a UEFA Champions League tie against AEK Athens by claiming he was dealing with an injury.

However, the decision to rule himself out of the game left Rodgers furious at the time and led him to publicly reprimand the 31-capped Belgian international, who has now given his full version of events after the pair found themselves locked in a bitter disagreement.

Celtic went on to lose in Athens and dropped into the Europa League, leading to widespread criticism of Boyata from large sections of the Celtic support with the Green Brigade holding up a banner that said he was “unfit to wear the Celtic jersey”.

Lisbon Lion great Bertie Auld described the episode a disgrace and called on Rodgers to NEVER play Boyata again. He said: “If I were the manager, would I play Boyata again? No chance. Never! In fact, I wouldn’t even let him train with the squad at Lennoxtown.

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“I would have him escorted to Glasgow Green every day to train on his own in the public parks. The way he has treated Brendan Rodgers, his colleagues and everyone at Celtic and the supporters has been an absolute disgrace, totally unacceptable.”

Now Boyata has attempted to set the record straight in an interview with The Celtic Way. He said: “There was interest in me when I came back from the World Cup, especially from England, and Celtic still had Champions League qualifiers to negotiate. The question was how Celtic were going to deal with me, should I stay or should I leave?

“The first AEK Athens game was just before the English transfer deadline, and were we taking a risk with me? I had a blowout with the coach over that. I had a hamstring strain, and Celtic felt that I could have done more and participated in the away game. The Champions League qualifiers are important to a club like Celtic, and I think they believed that they could have advanced over AEK Athens in the two legs.

“The transfer window closed, and Fulham had reportedly offered £9 million to sign me. With all the people you have around you and advising you, you just always try to make the right decision.

“It was just sad that all these things went on, as it was all so unnecessary. It did affect me at the time, I cannot lie about that. There was a lot of speculation and negative things were said about me. It was difficult to concentrate on football. Up until then, I enjoyed a very good relationship with the coaches and the staff at Celtic.”

Boyata was gradually phased back into the first-team when no transfer materialised, but the way he is now viewed in the eyes of many Celtic fans has been a bitter pill to swallow.

He added: “It is not nice to be in these kinds of situations. I love Celtic and the time I spent there, but this was an episode that was very sad during my time in Glasgow. I came back from injury and played more games that season, so that showed everybody the kind of character that I had.

“You have the player who finds himself dealing with situations on the pitch, then you have issues off the pitch surrounding family and the future. Then you have the football fan who comes to the game and just wants to see his team win and the players perform.

“The question for them is that they don't know how you, as a player, are supposed to feel at home when things like this are affecting you. It is different. That is why we have created a shell for footballers to perform every week, because if players were asked to speak every day about their own problems to justify their performance, it would never work.

“That's the hard part of the game, but it is far outweighed by the good parts. When you find yourself in those situations, you don't know how you are supposed to react. It is supposed to be all about the football, isn't it? A player who doesn't play well is always going to be criticised, but my goal was just to play football.

“When you play football and you hear fans booing you, it is very difficult, but at the end of the day, it is all about football, and I ended up scoring the goal that day against Hamilton, which turned out to be the winner. That is a good story.”

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