Paulo Bernardo felt like a Celtic player the minute he bulged the net against Rangers last season.
The Portuguese under-21s captain netted a stunner at Parkhead in what would result in a 2-1 win for the Hoops in December 2023.
It was Bernardo‘s coming out party and allowed supporters to see just how good the former Benfica talent could be as well as the passion he had for his then-loan club that would ultimately see him land a £3.5million permanent switch.
Bernardo has been desperate to add goals to his game with Celts to replace stats machine Matt O’Riley who headed to Brighton for a record £30m fee.
And when the Ibrox clash in the Glasgow derby rolls around in the New Year, he would love to gun down the Rangers once again.
He said: “This time last season was a good period for me as I scored against Rangers and that was good. I enjoyed that.
“It was a good moment. I felt then that I became a Celtic player and part of the Celtic family.
“Do I want to repeat that feat at Ibrox? Yeah, in every game I want to score goals
Paulo Bernardo would love to score another Celtic vs Rangers goal
Bernardo seems to enjoy facing the Light Blues as he teed up Adam Idah in the Scottish Cup Final last season.
He also played a standout part in Celtic’s comfortable 3-0 win back in September.
But until that game is next on the calendar, the midfielder has urged his teammates to focus on the task at hand when they play Motherwell this afternoon.
Bernardo’s record vs Rangers as a Celtic player
“We have a busy schedule full of games so we need to prepare for the next one, Motherwell at home, and we want to win,” Bernardo added.
“We will only think about the next one after that.
“We take things on a game-by-game basis.”
