Timothy Weah explains how Lille came back against his old club Celtic

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Lille forward Timothy Weah has been explaining how the club came back to draw against his former club Celtic in the Europa League this week. 

The USA international spent the second half of the 2018-19 season on loan at Parkhead and would have undoubtedly enjoyed facing off with some old teammates.

At one point, it seemed Celtic were in course for a memorable win after two goals from Mo Elyounoussi and a penalty save from Scott Bain. However, goals from Zeki Celik and Jonathan Ikone secured a point for Les Dogues. 

The 20-year-old came on in the final minutes of the game with Celtic in midweek and he has now explained how Lille turned things around at half-time.

“At half-time, in the locker room, the coach told us to stay calm, to play our game,” Weah told France Football. “We had to go back and fight. I’m proud of what we do and proud of the boys.

“We have a group of fighters. A great group led by José (Fonte). Even when he’s not on the pitch, he’s very important to us in the dressing room…He was there at halftime to tell us that we needed to refocus, to keep our heads up and that’s what the boys did.”

Weah was signed by Neil Lennon’s predecessor Brendan Rodgers who was a big fan of his and, as reported by the BBC, Weah stated he was ‘in love’ with Celtic. 

Lennon was less convinced and when Weah decided he would start training with the USA under-20 side ahead of the under-20 World Cup that summer the Celtic boss cancelled his spell ahead of the Scottish Cup final. 

The Scotsman suggested Lennon felt a ‘lack of commitment’ from the player and Weah ended up joining Lille from PSG that summer in a reported (Daily Mail) £9 million deal. 

So he probably enjoyed helping his current side putting a dampener on Lennon’s Thursday night.