A rival player has added his name to the growing list of Celtic star Aaron Mooy admirers.

Hearts midfielder Cammy Devlin was in direct opposition to Mooy for the second time in four days after coming on as a substitute during Saturday afternoon's Scottish Cup tie.

The Hoops won the quarter-final encounter 3-0 with Mooy opening the scoring. It followed a 3-1 win in midweek in which the Australian supplied a game-winning assist for Kyogo Furuhashi.

In total, Mooy has seven goals and eight assists for the Premiership champions this season and is making inroads into the player of the season conversation.

Devlin, a fellow Australian who was alongside Mooy at the recent World Cup in Qatar, conceded he cannot help but admire the Celtic man.

READ MORE: Detailed Celtic player ratings as Jota rips Hearts apart

Devlin said: “He’s a top player. He showed his class today. On Wednesday we did well, we had an outside centre-back stepping in and putting pressure on him. 

“Kye Rowles did well in both games but Mooy has played at the highest level. 

“As a fellow team-mate with the national team, I have nothing but admiration for him. I hate saying that when he’s been on the opposing team. 

“But I have grown up watching him in the A-League and then the Premier League and as a fellow Aussie I do admire him. He’s a great footballer and a great bloke. I just wish we’d got one over him.” 

Mooy was satisfied with the performance Celtic put in against the Jambos, saying afterwards: "We did the job that we came here to do, we played well in some stages in the match but it's not always like that away from home.

"Sometimes you have to be resilient and we've done that in the past."

Celtic Way:

Our Celtic Digest newsletter brings exclusive content directly to you rather than solely through the website. You can already find us on YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, TikTok and Instagram but we will also send bespoke opinion pieces and special features every day directly to your email inbox every evening. Not only will you receive this article from Sean Martin, Tony Haggerty or Aidan Macdonald (or, sometimes, all three) but you will also get easy access to our best content from the last 24 hours too. It’s a great way to keep up to date with what’s happening at Ange Postecoglou’s Scottish champions. To sign up, simply take five seconds to type in your email here. Simple!