Celtic defender Maik Nawrocki: 'Disappointment at being left out serves as main motivator'

Maik Nawrocki has said the disappointment at being left out the Celtic first team served as his perfect motivation to “prepare and work hard”.

The 22-year-old found himself struggling for minutes after sustaining a hamstring injury during the club’s League Cup defeat to Kilmarnock back in August, making just three appearances afterwards.

The Polish youth international admitted that it was a “hard time to get into the team”, but an injury crisis handed the centre back a chance to make his mark against Old Firm rivals Rangers – one which he took after his side ran out 2-1 winners.

Nawrocki said the previous disappointment at being left out served as the perfect motivation and he knew he “had to be prepared”.

He said: “I’m happy that I can finally play now, I think in the beginning I played three games before Rangers, and yeah, it was a hard time to get into the team.

“Only thing I could do was work hard, be prepared in the moment, and yeah it happened.

“I think the only thing that wasn’t good was the injury. The rest was really fine with the team and the people, I felt very welcomed everywhere, so it wasn’t a problem.

“The only thing was I didn’t play, that’s sometimes football, I work hard in training and that’s the only thing I could do.

“I knew if it happened I had to be prepared, and yeah it happened against Rangers.”