Dedryck Boyata has revealed his angry showdown with Brendan Rodgers after the manager's infamous interview on his transfer stand-off.
The former Parkhead star insists he was left badly hurt by his former manager after being accused of refusing to play a Champions League qualifier in order to force a move.
Celtic crashed to a shock defeat to AEK Athens, after which Rodgers alleged Boyata "didn't want to help the team" amid interest from several clubs following the defender's impressive World Cup 2018 campaign with Belgium.
The centre-back then confronted his manager, demanding to know why he'd been thrown under the bus.
Boyata was battered by fans and pundits following Rodgers' revelation, with the Green Brigade unveiling a scathing at Celtic's next fixture - in which he scored the winner - and Record Sport columnist Chris Sutton branding him a disgrace.
The 30-year-old, now with Hertha Berlin, says he was so upset by Sutton's criticism he wrote down every word of it.
Speaking to his former Manchester City team-mate Nedum Onuoha on the Kickback with Nedum podcast, Boyata said: “Brendan Rodgers had an interview where he said “it’s difficult to win games when we have fit players at home, who don’t want to help the team. From this interview, Chris Sutton was so hurtful. Honestly, he was so hurtful that I wrote down everything he said. He said something like “you need to kick him out of the team!”
“At that moment, I just felt… I spoke to every single player about my situation. The captain, the goalkeeper… these guys were affected by the situation. They wanted to go to the Champions League. They said “we need to find the best situation for Dedryk!”.
“From that moment, I was finished. I came back the day after and went to speak to [Rodgers]. “How can you do this to me? How can you put me in the situation? You know everything that was going on, you were aware of everything”. He protected himself, he protected the team, and I was the bad guy.
“From (then) on, it (was) finished.”
Boyata admits he did hand in a transfer request but didn't then expect to be portrayed as "the villain".
He saw out the remainder of the campaign with Celtic before making the switch to the Bundesliga.
He added: “I cannot speak for them, but I really did not think they expected me to go to the World Cup, or for me to play. So I go to the World Cup, and I have one year left. So we ended up having a good World Cup, finished 3rd. Come back to Celtic. I had very good relations with Brendan Rodgers.
“That was the year the transfer window was closing earlier than usual. So what happened is, I speak with the guys, I speak with the doctors, the coach, about the situation. Yes, I requested a transfer. I said “I have these teams behind me, I don’t know what’s going to happen for me in the future. I need to know what’s going on now.”
“For myself it was a little bit difficult. I have never been in a situation where I am the villain.”
