Carl Starfelt earns Barcelona acclaim as Celtic hero wins armband and refuses to fling pals under the bus

The defender is now abroad after leaving Parkhead for sunnier shores.

Carl Starfelt has been lauded as the pick of the Celta Vigo bunch after his arrival from Celtic - but he's been left gutted after a late collapse against Barcelona.

The Swedish international left the Premiership champions in August for La Liga and he's instantly turned into a leader in Rafa Benitez' new-look side, handed the captain's armband for a period of the match in Catalonia. Celta Vigo were leading 2-0 going into the final 10 minutes before Robert Lewandowski netted a Barca double and Joao Cancelo scored in the 89th minute to leave Starfelt and co head in hands.

But the praise has arrived for him nonetheless. One observer said the 28-year-old is "starting to find his feet in that central role in the middle of a back three" and another claimed "Celta Vigo with the meltdown against Barcelona but at least Carl Starfelt seems to have performed somewhat well."

Lewandowski might have got a double but it wasn't on the former Celtic defender's watch. One fan said "He was really good. Kept Lewa quiet for 80 minutes. No one got past him." Another added: "What a signing Celta has made, we have a central man."

The defender himself though was gutted with how things panned out, although he sees green shoots in his team's display. He said: "A ruthless way to lose this match. I think we played very well for 80 minutes of the match.

"We defended well, were dangerous on counterattacks and played perfect. Then obviously the last 10 minutes were not good enough.

"We have to accept it, think about what happened and learn from it but we also need to see the positive in our match. It was very small details that made us lose this match We have been close to coming to Barcelona at their home and grabbing a win. It is disappointing now but we continue to develop as a team, work hard to ensure that those details are on our side

"This is a new project, with new players and a new coach but you can see our development and playing good performance and I really believe in this project."