It’s not the done thing to praise players after a Glasgow Derby defeat but we have to make mention of Kristoffer Ajer’s performance today.

Celtic were brilliant before the sending off and never looked in danger ’til Bitton walked.

A big reason for that was Kristoffer Ajer marshalling the defence and his pace and recovery when Celtic could have been under pressure was fantastic.

The Norway international made important blocks, helped in the build-up play and handled his individual battles well.

He will be bitterly disappointed he was on the losing side of this tie.

He is a major plus today for Celtic but it’s only a short term plus because by the end of this season the defender will almost certainly move on

Some fans labelled him a hero and on another level.

See the mental thing, see if Bitton didn’t get sent off and we went or to win or draw then he’d be getting praised on here.

Up until that absolutely pathetic challenge he was immense and so was Ajer.

— C (@_CM_67_) January 2, 2021

https://twitter.com/dembele259/status/1345407679116808192?s=20

Celtic are going to hit am passive reset button next season but right now, we need the level of performance we got today from Ajer and some of his teammates in the next run of games to at least keep going until it’s mathematically impossible.