MOHAMED Elyounoussi said he was proud to have made his Celtic debut and hoped to show fans more of his ability in next week’s Europa League group stage opener.

Elyounoussi made his Hoops bow in Celtic’s 1-0 win against Hamilton at New Douglas Park yesterday (Saturday) and the Norwegian international wasted no time in impressing his new manager.

He almost scored with a half-volley in the opening minutes only to see his effort blocked. Moments later the 25-year-old muscled his way to the byline and cut a good pass into the six-yard box for James Forrest to steer in.

Reflecting on his performance after the game Elyounoussi said he was proud to have played his part in an important win.

“It’s good to get the opportunity to play and, obviously, good to win the game,” he said. “I’m proud to have made my debut and to play for Celtic.

“It was a good first five minutes. I almost scored with a shot but I’m happy to have assisted James with the goal that won us the game. It was a tough game, the pitch wasn’t the best and it was a little bit dry. In the end we came here looking for three-points and that’s what we got.

“Our style is fast flowing attacking football but when there’s no water on the pitch and it’s so dry it makes it difficult. I thought it was an okay game but it was also tough.

"I wish we could have given the fans more goals. They were brilliant throughout the whole game, I thought they were amazing. We’re happy to get the three-points though, that’s the most important thing.”

Elyounoussi said he was settling in well at Celtic and was eager to build on his debut in the upcoming fixtures.

“Everyone’s been taking care of me. With more time I’ll get to know them better and understand more how they like to play and how I should play. That will improve in the future.

“Now it’s Rennes on Thursday and we keep going. Everyone wants to be part of the starting XI for a game like that.

“We’ll recover tomorrow and go into next week full of positivity. We’ll take the good parts form this game and the good points from the Rangers game and build on that. There’s a lot of confidence in the team and the team spirit is good so we just need to keep going.”

Elyounoussi proud with positive Celtic debut