{"id":214860,"date":"2025-10-15T09:14:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-15T09:14:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/214860\/"},"modified":"2025-10-15T09:14:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-15T09:14:09","slug":"marcelo-saracchi-flipping-the-celtic-script-to-upstage-leading-man-in-a-twist-nobody-saw-coming","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/214860\/","title":{"rendered":"Marcelo Saracchi flipping the Celtic script to upstage leading man in a twist nobody saw coming"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Uruguayan arrived almost as an afterthought to cover for Kieran Tierney but it’s not quote panning out that way\"MarceloMarcelo Saracchi in action for Celtic<\/p>\n

Marcelo Saracchi has earned the trust of his Uruguay boss Marcelo Bielsa.<\/p>\n

And Saracchi\u2019s positioning under club manager Brendan Rodgers<\/a> may now play a key role in a huge period for Celtic<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As the club\u2019s support got lost in the fog of clamour for wingers and strikers in the last week of the painful transfer window, the 27-year-old\u2019s arrival on a season-long loan from Boca Juniors was somewhat clouded.<\/p>\n

However, Saracchi<\/a> has rapidly made his worth clear to such an extent Bielsa put him straight back into the national team for wins over Dominican Republic and Uzbekistan \u2013 and lobbed him the armband for game one.<\/p>\n

Naturally, he\u2019ll return to Glasgow with confidence sky high having said: \u201cPlaying for the national team is a beautiful thing and being captain is a huge honour. It\u2019s something beautiful that will remain in the memory of my career as well, something I was able to accomplish.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, where it seemed back-up to Kieran Tierney was going to be Saracchi\u2019s regular role in Glasgow, his initial Celtic displays are making that into more of a debate among some fans.<\/p>\n

Through a tricky opening period to the campaign where things haven\u2019t clicked in the forward areas, the defensive unit has mainly held up their side of the bargain so far.<\/p>\n

Given it has been something of a struggle to find free-flowing football and carve hatfuls of chances against opposition at home and in Europe, tightness in the rearguard has been an important feature in keeping Rodgers\u2019 team on track.<\/p>\n

(Image: Stuart Wallace\/Shutterstock)<\/p>\n

Despite the misery of dropping out of the Champions League<\/a> with two lacklustre showings against Kairat Almaty, the defence could not be faulted, keeping a clean sheet for 210 minutes of two legs and extra time against the Kazakhs.<\/p>\n

Those blanks came in a sustained period when few were finding cracks in Rodgers\u2019 side.<\/p>\n

In the first 11 matches of the campaign, Celtic lost just a measly three goals. One to Falkirk in the Premier Sports Cup, one at Kilmarnock and an equaliser to Red Star Belgrade in the first Europa League group match.<\/p>\n

That at least gave the champions a platform \u2013 but the last two outings in the final couple of matches before the latest international break veered from that path of security.<\/p>\n

Braga were able to breach Celtic twice on their own patch to dish out a Euro sore one and Motherwell also bagged two in Glasgow\u2019s east end, only to succumb to a late fightback that saw the hosts get out of jail through Daizen Maeda\u2019s injury-time winner.<\/p>\n

As Rodgers hunts the fluidity and fast-paced attacking play that is the hallmark of the club, that solidity needs to be restored quickly because the size of the challenges ahead of the squad and the importance of them in the next four weeks doesn\u2019t need much explaining<\/p>\n

Stand-out domestic clashes include a top-of-the-table showdown away to Hearts and a Premier Sports Cup semi-final against Rangers. Euro ties against Sturm Graz and Midtjylland also linger within a key block of fixtures.<\/p>\n

Rodgers has been largely consistent in terms of the centre-backs. Cameron Carter-Vickers and Liam Scales have been trusted with the roles and, in the main, performed admirably.<\/p>\n

Auston Trusty was kept kicking his heels on the bench before a foot injury put him onto the sidelines, while the situation around Manchester City loanee Jahmai Simpson-Pusey is mysterious with Dane Murray also chosen ahead of the Etihad youngster.<\/p>\n

Kasper Schmeichel has the gloves and, while Viljami Sinisalo looksthe future, the Dane \u2013 who remains his country\u2019s No.1 \u2013 is still the present.<\/p>\n

Youngster Colby Donovan has grasped the opportunity afforded to him by Rodgers in the right-back slot and Anthony Ralston never lets Celtic down.<\/p>\n

But of course, the injury to Alistair Johnston has been a huge blow at both ends of the park.<\/p>\n

Not only does the Canadian defend with diligence and relish but he hits the byeline with underlaps and overlaps and his imminent return from injury will also assist the attacking unit.<\/p>\n

Celtic’s Kieran Tierney<\/p>\n

Left-back, though, is now intriguing. Tierney is the fans\u2019 favourite who was welcomed back with open arms and his talent is undeniable.<\/p>\n

But at this stage, it\u2019s reasonable to suggest he hasn\u2019t hit his own highest gear since his return from Arsenal.<\/p>\n

While KT has started the two Europa League ties since Saracchi\u2019s arrival, it\u2019s been the South American who has had the nod for the last three Premiership matches against Kilmarnock, Hibs and Motherwell.<\/p>\n

The Uruguayan has played well in each of those starts with versatility also on show against Braga when Rodgers brought him on for Donovan and he could switch systems.<\/p>\n

Clearly, given his comments in his homeland this week, Saracchi didn\u2019t sign for Celtic just to sit in Tierney\u2019s full-time shadow.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cMy goal has always been to play and get playing time because important things are coming up for the national team and I\u2019d like to be there.\u201d<\/p>\n

He is, of course, referring to Uruguay being at the World Cup. Tierney is also in position to get there with Scotland.<\/p>\n

Rodgers needs a squad. He can\u2019t get through the campaign with just one left-back but Greg Taylor established himself as the out-and-out first pick before his departure, so how this pair are utlised in the weeks ahead by the Celtic boss is going to be a fascinating watch.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Uruguayan arrived almost as an afterthought to cover for Kieran Tierney but it’s not quote panning out…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":214861,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[18788,64,63,10752,18282,6257,6254,596,27601,131664,9003,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-214860","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-alistair-johnston","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-brendan-rodgers","12":"tag-celtic-fc","13":"tag-champions-league","14":"tag-europa-league","15":"tag-football","16":"tag-kieran-tierney","17":"tag-marcelo-saracchi","18":"tag-scottish-premiership","19":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214860","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=214860"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214860\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/214861"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=214860"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=214860"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=214860"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}