Celtic defender Kristoffer Ajer should have started in Valencia defeat

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Celtic suffered a crushing 2-0 home defeat to Valencia in the Europa League Round of 32 first leg fixture.

Brendan Rodgers’ side are staring at elimination from the competition and will need a heroic display next week in Spain to turn the tie in their favour.

The Bhoys were lacking quality going forward, while defensively they were extremely sloppy and punished by a streetwise Valencia.

Celtic’s centre-back pair of Dedryck Boyata and Jozo Simunovic both delivered below par displays, as they were caught out of position against the La Liga giants.

They were too safe on the ball for large spells of the game and the injury absence of Filip Benkovic massively told.

It was perhaps Celtic defender Kristoffer Ajer who was the biggest winner from the performances of his teammates.

Ajer was an unused substitute against Valencia and his stock may have risen without kicking a ball on Thursday night.

The 20-year-old centre-back is still a little rash at times and improving areas of his game, but he could have been a great option to start against Valencia.

He is much better playing out from the back than the two Celtic centre-backs that started and it was so crucial they got a positive result in the first leg if they had realistic chances of progressing further in the knockout rounds.

Ajer does have a mistake in him, but it would have been a great chance for Rodgers to put faith in him in arguably the club’s biggest game of the season to date.

The Norway international is a highly-rated talent and perhaps he may now be favoured for the big fixtures in future, as he does fit the mould of how Rodgers wants to play.