JOSIP JURANOVIC has compared teammate Tom Rogic to Lionel Messi after the man the Celtic fans call ‘The Wizard of Oz’ was the matchwinner against Motherwell.

Rogic came up with the only goal of a hard-fought encounter on the stroke of half-time after a well-worked set-piece routine, following up his wonder goal against Dundee United last Sunday.

Juranovic has been blown away by the attacker since he arrived at Celtic in the summer, so much so he has been wondering why he never moved on to a higher level.

“For me he is little Messi!” Juranovic said. “He’s a bit taller than the original but there’s only one big Messi, he can be the little one!

“He’s so good. He’s one of the best players I have played with at club level. He’s in top form this season and that can only be good for us.

“We see it in training but I always make sure he’s in my team. He knows how to pick the sides.

“You look at his technique. He’s so tall but it’s unbelievable. He’s the main man for us.

“I didn’t know too much about him before I came here. I knew he’d been here a long time but I was wondering why because he was so good.

“He enjoys it here and he’s a legend.”

Meanwhile, Juranovic says that the silent protest held by the Green Brigade for the entirety of the Motherwell match against the prospective appointment of Bernard Higgins had a detrimental effect on the performance of the players.

“We noticed it,” he said. “When we came in afterwards we were speaking about it and how we never really heard them singing.

“We were joking we should join the protest and sit on the pitch and drink coffee!

“It made a difference. When the fans sing it is the main thing here. We play for them and they cheer for us.

“When they cheer we play better so hopefully it will come back soon.

“Our main focus in on the game on Wednesday and then we will prepare for the Final.”