“It was an unbelievable night,” Sam Johnstone

Celtic goalkeeper sample Johnstone is still awaiting his first clean sheet since joining the club on a season long loan deal from Wolves in the closing days of the summer transfer window.

The former England international shot-stopper came close on Thursday night but was it was not to be as Besiktas grabbed two goals but Sam was still smiling at the end after Celtic’s impact subs Callum Osmand and Camilo Duran pulled a magnificent Celtic treble out of the hat to give Celtic a memorable European triumph which rekindles hopes of progressing in the competition beyond the league phase.

Johnstone spoke the morning after the night before to Celtic’s in-house media.

“Buzzing about last night,” Sam said in an exclusive interview on CelticPlayer on Friday. “Great win, great performance. It was tough, especially first half. They’re a good team, but the lads dug in.

“We had to do the dirty side of it more, and we showed we can do it. We managed to get the win from doing them bits. The horrible bits, the running and the not-so-pretty bits.

“Great win, unbelievable win. Great to be part of it, and it was an unbelievable night,” Johnstone stated.

Celtic’s three substitutes on 60 minutes swung the game in Celtic’s favour with Callum Osmand getting a goal with his first touch and also a brilliant assist for Camilo Duran’s first goal of the contest. Meanwhile Colby Donovan’s role in the Celtic winner cannot be underestimated.

“It’s always said in football, subs are important, and last night showed it,” the current Celtic No.1 explained.

“All the subs that came on had a part in the goals and helped us get over the line.

“It just shows you everyone’s needed.

“For Cal (Osmand) to come on and, I think with his first touch, strike that in the corner, he must be feeling good about that. Obviously, Duran getting two goals, so yeah, massive impact.”

“Last night was a massive result,” Sam Johnstone added. “We can go again on the weekend, then we’ve got the international break, and then we keep going and we keep getting the results.

“We go out to win every game, and when we don’t win, we ain’t happy. We’re competitive people.

“Last night, massive win under the circumstances, and hopefully that can kick us on to just keep going.”

Johnstone also spoke about today’s match against Kilmarnock and despite it being a top versus bottom contest Johnstone knows that there’s rarely an easy game against teams scraping for their survival in the league.

“Massive to get three points, but everyone knows what football is like. It’s never easy,” the Celtic goalkeeper admitted.

“They’re obviously coming to play against us at Celtic Park, and most teams will try and up their game for that occasion.

“We have to just keep doing what we’re doing and get the win.

“I think that’s the most important thing, no matter how, but to win that game and get three points.”

Watch Celtic v Kilmarnock LIVE INSIDE the UK & Ireland this Sunday with a CelticPlayer Match Pass.Live from: 3:30pm CPT.