Matt O'Riley Celtic form backed to land Denmark Euro 2024 spot as insider details national team rise

Morten Wieghorst has revealed his role in helping Matt O'Riley become a full Denmark international - and has backed the Celtic star to bag a seat on the plane to the Euro 2024.

The 23-year-old has been in sparkling form for Brendan Rodgers' side this season, with 10 goals and 12 assists in 33 matches in all competitions. Those performances earned the playmaker his first cap for Kasper Hjulmand's senior side last year, starting in a 2-0 defeat to Northern Ireland back in November.

Ex-Hoops midfielder Wieghorst is boss Hjulmand's number two in the Denmark national team, and has spoken about the first time he was able to watch O'Riley in person. Speaking on the official Celtic Podcast, he said: "It was not long after he signed for Celtic. I spoke to Jesper Sorensen, the Denmark U-21 manager at the time to speak about some players. We spoke about O'Riley as we were aware that he is half-Danish through one of his parents and that he had been with our U-16 and U-17 teams before.

"Jesper asked me if I would like to go with him and watch Matt because of my Celtic connection. The first objective was to see if he wanted to play for Denmark. We watched the game against Bodo/Glimt in Europe at Parkhead and then I spoke to him afterwards. It turned out that he was very interested in playing for Denmark. At first, he was picked for the U-21s, but we sensed right away that he was a genuine lad who is very ambitious."

Wieghorst, who won one league title and two League Cups with Celtic between 1995 and 2002, also added that O'Riley's desire to try and break into the Denmark squad will give him a good chance of making the squad for EURO 2024, with the Danes drawn in Group C alongside England, Serbia and Slovenia.

"We had a training