Tomoki Iwata admits Celtic fans left him confused and fearing booing was aimed at him

Japenese midfielder reflects on moment that irritated manager Brendan Rodgers

Celtic's Tomoki Iwata with manager Brendan Rodgers after being subbed off against Motherwell last weekend. (Photo by Craig Foy / SNS Group)

Tomoki Iwata admits he wondered if the boos from the Celtic fans were for him when he was taken off against Motherwell last weekend.

The large travelling support jeered the decision to replace him with Paulo Bernardo given the strength of the Japanese midfielder’s performance in his first appearance since December. That reaction irritated manager Brendan Rodgers, especially given Celtic went on to win 3-1 thanks to two injury-time goals.

Iwata was left bemused, too, and feared it was a negative response to his own display.

“At the beginning I was confused,” he revealed through a translator. “Like ‘is it toward me?’ or what? But then I think it was, in a way, a compliment and I took it very well.

"I just want to meet the expectations now. Now I’m starting to feature in games and really happy about it. Hopefully I can look to contribute more towards the team winning.

“Before that I was obviously frustrated at not being involved in the team because of injuries or different situations.

“I was hoping that I would get opportunities so, yeah, it was a difficult moment but now I’m happy. The only thing I was thinking about was how I was going to get the time on the pitch here – how I can improve myself and how I can contribute to the team.”

Iwata thanked his family for supporting him during those difficult moments on the sidelines. “I didn’t feel it was as difficult as maybe it could have been because my family supported me very well,” he added. “I’m very settled in Glasgow.”