Paulo Bernardo drawing on Celtic big dog mentality bred into him at Benfica as title nitty gritty tests champions' mettle

The Portuguese has been playing with the pressure of having to win every week since he was a kid at the Estadio Da Luz.

The bog dog mentality is something Paulo Bernardo is well used to after his upbringing at Benfica.

And it's needed more than ever at Celtic with a real title fight on their hands from Rangers. The Hoops squeaked past Hibs in midweek thanks to a stoppage time Adam Idah penalty. That ensured that the three point gap remained, but gers can go top on goal difference if they beat Ross County by three goals or more next week.

The relentless pressure to win every week can cause some players to crumble. But Bernardo has had that winning mentality ingrained in him since he was boy at the Estadio Da Luz in the Portuguese capital. He'll need every ounce of it over the next few weeks as Brendan Rodgers' side battle to retain their Scottish Premiership title and Scottish Cup, with St Mirren up next in the latter this weekend.

"We are at Celtic, a big club like this, we have to win all the games we participate in. That happened at Benfica too. All my youth teams at Benfica were like that. Benfica is a big club like Celtic so I think they are quite similar clubs and the demands are to win all the games.

"We needed to win the game and a last-minute goal is always good. We had so much passion to win the game. Sometimes it has to be that way and we were very happy to win. We need confidence and it brings a little bit more to the team. We knew we needed the win so it was great to win.

"Of course, we always need to improve our game. We need to improve in training and take that into games. We had a great time before the break and we have to get to that level again

"Sometimes it happens, we have had some injuries, we had the break. We had a good rhythm before the break. I think we are doing quite well, we just need to make our opportunities count. Goals help.

"We are doing some things well, some things we have to improve. We just have a little problem with scoring goals, because I think we need too many chances to score a goal and that's causing an issue.

"With confidence, with playing more games, I think we are playing better each game. We just need to keep going.

"We have a long season, we have ups and downs, but we just need to stick together, the players, the coaches, the fans, and keep going."