Beram Kayal is hoping he can finish the season with a flourish after missing a large part of the 2013-14 season. Kayal joined Celtic from Maccabi Haifa in 2010 and quickly became a favourite before extending his contract to 2015 a year later. The Israel midfielder wants to make his presence felt in the final five league games, starting with the away game against Motherwell on Saturday. Kayal started his first game since late November against Dundee United on 5 April, coming through the full 90 minutes in the 2-0 win.
He said: "It's a great feeling and I'm so happy as I worked really hard for three or four months after a long injury to try and come back to my best. I was delighted to play a full game for the first time in a while and try to help my team-mates, and now I want to enjoy the rest of the season. We work hard in training all the time and do extra work with the fitness coaches which helps me, but I need games to get my fitness up again. We have five games left and hopefully I can play all of them. I want to be at a high level and help the team because I miss playing football, and after every injury I am hungrier to come back and work hard. We will be playing against the teams who finished in the top six and it will be a good challenge for us against them. We know we've won the league, but we always have motivation and hunger to win these games as we are Celtic. We have to have a high performance level. Every day we come into Lennoxtown and try to learn more about the game to make us more like a group and a stronger team."