Scott Brown was celebrating much more than being fouled

Scott Brown’s hilariously nuts reaction to Sam Cosgrove’s disgraceful challenge has garnered plenty discussion on social media.

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Mostly positive of course, but there has been some negativity and criticism of the Celtic skipper for apparently celebrating being fouled as if he’d scored a goal.

When looked at out of context, the clips of the incident being shared on social media which have been commented upon by some condescending voices within the English football bubble, that does appear to be the case.

However, that’s not what happened. Brown is not celebrating nearly having his career ended by Cosgrove or having the ball blootered at him by Shay Logan, he is celebrating because he knows in that moment, he’s won.

The Aberdeen players heads have gone, and the game is now over.

A minute beforehand, Kieran Tierney had smashed Celtic into a two-goal lead, but seven minutes prior to that, Mikael Lustig’s embarrassing red card looked like it could end up costing Celtic a crucial three points.

Given some of the sub-standard performances Celtic have offered this season and the exertions of Thursday’s defeat in Russia, the stage appeared set for Aberdeen to finally come out of their shell and press for an equaliser, costing the Hoops more points.

As it was, this is a Derek McInnes team in a big game, so naturally. they offered little threat and Celtic superbly counter-attacked them to seal a victory.

The reaction to that goal said it all. This was a big moment and capped a much-improved performance in a game that was run by Brown.

Along with Tierney, James Forrest and more recently Kristoffer Ajer, Brown has been the stand-out player in a season littered with injuries and individuals not reaching the heights of last year.

When he’s on his game, nobody in Scottish football can match Brown’s passion, drive and the influence that he wields over central midfield, which is even more remarkable considering he was close to being written off before Brendan Rodgers took over.

Since then, he has been playing the best football of his career, thriving in the kind of situation that Celtic found themselves in in the 76th minute on Sunday.

He revels when a match becomes a physical, but more-so a mental, battle and when Cosgrove attempted his wild lunge, Brown knew that, once again, he’d won and as such, he celebrated in typical Broony style.