Marco Tilio officially signed for Celtic from Melbourne City last week on a five year deal.
The right winger has received a wealth of praise in his homeland and appears to be one of the biggest Australian talents at the moment.
The 21 year old already has seven caps for his country and went to the recent World Cup in Qatar.
Whilst in the Middle East representing his country, though, one particular moment caused Tilio and some of his teammates to be heavily criticised.
After getting out of the groups, Australia went on to face Argentina in the round of 16.
The Soceroos did give the eventual champions a run for their money but in the end, were defeated by two goals to nil.
Melbourne City’s Marco Tilio scores their third goal REUTERS/Soe Zeya Tun
After the match, numerous Australian players wanted to get a photo with one of the world’s best, Lionel Messi.
Tilio was one of those but because his team had just lost, many diehards weren’t happy and criticised the decision to get a picture.
Nevertheless, Tilio responded to responded to this condemnation, albeit rather bullishly.
He said (The Scottish Sun):
“I think it’s a load of bulls*** to be honest. We played the game and I think it was a once in a lifetime opportunity to take a photo with my biggest idol.”
In the heat of the moment, fans wouldn’t like to see any player doing what Tilio did but at the end of the day, it is Lionel Messi.
The 21 year old always gives his all for his country and should be allowed to take a picture with a man he aspired to be when he grew up.
In spite of this, it would be intriguing to see the reaction is he done this with someone like Kylian Mbappe after Celtic just got knocked out of the Champions League by PSG.
