His old club might be toiling but former Rangers hero Alfredo Morelos is enjoying a renaissance in his native Colombia – with a Celtic flop in charge.
Morelos struggled to find his best form after ending his five-year stay at Ibrox with a disastrous spell at Pele’s old club Santos. Morelos left the Brazilian side on loan and has pitched up at Atletico Nacional. Based in Medellin, they are managed by Mexican Juarez who has helped get the best out of Morelos. The Colombian bagged a double in the 3-1 Colombian Cup quarter final first leg win over Jaguares. That took his tally to seven goals in 15 games – 12 of which have been starts – for his new club.
While Morelos was a Scottish Premiership title-winning hero for the Light Blues, his new boss had a less successful spell on the other side of the Old Firm divide. There were high hopes for Juarez when he made a decent start to his Celtic career in the summer of 2010, having signed under Neil Lennon for around £3.5 million from Club Universidad Nacional.
He scored in his first two appearances for the Hoops which pointed to a more successful spell than how it turned out in Glasgow. Juarez made just 18 appearances in two years before being shipped out on loan to Real Zaragoza and then back to Mexico. Juarez moved into coaching thanks to former Celtic boss Ronny Deila who took him to Valerenga, New York FC, Standard Liege and Club Brugge before heading out on his own in Colombia where he has made a real impression in the dug-out.
He said: “We are never satisfied, but not because of this match, it is because we are demanding with ourselves. We have to be more consistent. These were the first 90 minutes, now it is up to the home team to try to play another good match and try to get through to the semi-finals.
“It was a match that developed as planned, Jaguares are very good and we knew we had to take advantage of the opportunities we had, we attacked in a difficult area and that is very important.You always have to maintain a balance. Of course, not keeping a clean sheet requires work, we want to take risks, but sometimes it is not always so good and we have to analyse that.”