The past year has been the best of Liam Scales’ career. The centre-half has broken into the Celtic team and established himself as a regular at international level with Ireland.
Ahead of 2024/25, the 25-year-old is hungry for more, especially after his ‘humbling’ learning curve at the end of last season.
Scales was playing for Ireland in his last game of a long and arduous campaign. John O’Shea’s side were taking on Portugal in a friendly, where the defender was up against none other than Cristiano Ronaldo.
The legendary striker bagged a brace in his country’s 3-0 win as he helped tear Ireland apart.
It was a harrowing night for Scales, who has opened up on just how unexpected yet difficult it was.
“It was almost humbling playing against them (Portugal)”, he said (The Scottish Sun).
“I went into the game thinking, ‘I’ve got experience in the Champions League, I’ll be well able’. I felt like I could play against them, but the whole Portugal team were brilliant.
“Ronaldo was quality, and it was just his game intelligence that stood out, along with the goals he scored.
“It was humbling in a really good way because it made me hungry to improve and be more comfortable at that level, playing against guys like Ronaldo and Bruno Fernandes.”
