FIRM FAVOURITE
Ex-Celtic star unrecognisable as he ends up managing team featuring Rangers hero Alfredo Morelos
He owns a major claim to fame at Parkhead!
HE arrived at Celtic to much fanfare under Neil Lennon in July 2010 with a fee stated at the time around the £3.5m mark.
Part of a major summer rebuild, he came in hot on the heels of Charlie Mulgrew, Cha Du-ri, Joe Ledley and Daryl Murphy – and shortly before the likes of Gary Hooper and Beram Kayal.
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But while he actually scored in each of his first two Parkhead appearances, first in a Champions League qualifier against Braga, then a Europa League qualifier against Utrecht, he never did stick at Parkhead.
He made just 18 appearances in all over two years before it was back his homeland via a loan spell at Zaragoza.
If you haven't guessed it yet, that man is former midfielder Efrain Juarez, who became the first Mexican ever to play both for Celtic and in the Scottish top flight.
That was back in the summer of 2020 - but sometimes it's incredible to think how football has worked out.
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That's because 14 years on, this former Hoops hero finds himself managing Rangers hero Alfredo Morelos out in Colombia, as the former Ibrox sharpshooter bids to get himself on track at Atletico Nacional.
It's certainly been an eventful spell for the club, with Morelos and co forced to flee their home pitch recently over fears for his safety as machete-wielding fans scrapped and fell from the stands during a clash with FC Junior.
While he has ended up working with a Rangers hero, Juarez first fell in with a former Celtic star in the form of Ronny Deila.
Working together for the first time at Valerenga, Juarez became part of Deila's staff at New York FC, then Standard Liege and Club Brugge.
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But he took the chance to strike out on his own at Atletico Nacional this August.
Behind the scenes of the Barcelona 'bust up' after Celtic's heroic 2012 win
That was just a month after Alfredo Morelos had decamped there following a dismal spell at Santos where the Brazilian giants were relegated.
And it's an arrangement which seems to be bearing fruit on the pitch at least - with Morelos banging in TWO goals for the Medellin based side in midweek against Envigado, even if there were no fans to watch it.
Atletico Nacional currently sit fourth in the Colombian top flight, six points off leaders America de Cali.
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