Celtic travel to Madrid this afternoon in a very good place, thanks to their recent 3-0 win over Ross County at the weekend.

The champions were dominant throughout proceedings, thanks largely in part to another dominating performance from Liam Scales at the back, alongside goals from David Turnbull, Luis Palma and James Forrest. The fact that Ross County were down to 10 men for virtually the whole game played a large part in the proceedings, too.

However, the star of the show statistically was the Irishman, who was involved in absolutely everything good about Celtic on the day, including, shots, key passes and OBV numbers. The defender was also unlucky not to score on the day, with VAR intervening due to a foul by Oh Hyeon-gyu in the build-up to Scales’ strike.

Having not missed a single minute of action since his inclusion against St Johnstone in August, the former Shamrock Rovers stopper has been an ever-present in Brendan Rodgers’ side. Of course, this was partly down to injuries to key men at the back like Cameron Carter-Vickers, Stephen Welsh and big-money signing Maik Nawrocki, but the central defender has not looked back since being given his opportunity.

READ MORE: The Celtic Numbers: Stellar Liam Scales shines in Dingwall

It is not just domestically that the Republic of Ireland international has succeeded, however, as the defender has been a standout in the Champions League also. Big performances against the likes of Feyenoord, Lazio and Atletico Madrid have only strengthened Scales’ case for continuing to be one of Celtic’s first-choice defenders.

Despite both Gustaf Lagerbielke and Nawrocki fully fit and ready to step in – as well as loanee Nat Phillips – Scales is a sure-fire starter for tomorrow’s showdown in the Wanda Metropolitano stadium alongside Carter-Vickers, who joined in the same window as himself back in 2021. A new contract surely must be in the offing for arguably Celtic’s most consistent player this season.

Join Ryan McGinlay and special guest Stewart Ross, as they go into detail regarding Scales’ standout performance at the Global Energy Stadium on Saturday. You can find their StatsBomb-filled video below, as they use statistics and metrics to display just how impressive the defender was in proceedings, especially in a creative and attacking sense.