Simunovic opens up about turbulent year at Celtic

Jozo Simunovic has spoken out about his recovery from knee surgery after winning his first trophy of the season at Celtic.

The 22-year-old centre-back underwent surgery in March after playing for over a month with a cracked bone in his knee.

Simunovic as impressed since coming back into the side, and has formed a formidable partnership with Erik Sviatchenko that hasn’t shipped a goal in over eight games.

As quoted by the Herald Scotland, Simunovic said:

This year has been up and down for me. It has been turbulent. But I just accept that. It was part of my football career. The most important thing now is that I am playing games and winning trophies with Celtic. I want to keep improving and getting better every day.

To win this trophy means a lot to me after everything that has happened over the last year. But look, I’m a professional footballer and injuries happen. That’s normal. I accepted that and I have worked hard to improve.

The manager is getting a lot out of me but I also believe I can get better every day. It’s good that he has said some positive things about me. That means a lot. I can’t think about that though, I just need to keep working hard every day.

Having only made 17 appearances last season, Simunovic has already made over half that this season (10), including his debut in the Champions League against Barcelona.

The Croatian defender missed out on Celtic’s title run least season, but played a key role in their League Cup triumph over Aberdeen at the weekend.

Simunovic will look to start in his third consecutive game this season on Saturday when Celtic travel to face Motherwell at Fir Park, with kick-off at 12:15pm.