Debut goal for Celtic showed everyone that I’m alive and kicking … and STILL hungry for medals, insists new Bhoy Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain

There aren’t too many players kicking about in England who can claim to have ticked pretty much every box the game has to offer.

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain falls into that elite category. A three-time FA Cup winner with Arsenal, his £35million move to Liverpool in 2019 resulted in him lifting the title and the League Cup.

Then came the small matter of the Champions League, the Super Cup and the World Club Cup. Tick. Tick. Tick.

At the age of 32, with 35 caps to boot, the appetite of many in his position would long be satisfied.

Maybe the midfielder’s well-documented injury concerns have something to do with the fact that he is not, or perhaps there’s just something deep inside him which will always want more.

However, as he dusted himself down from an extraordinary introduction to life at Celtic on Wednesday, you could have been forgiven for believing that his trophy cabinet was still bare.

Asked how big his hunger was for medals in Scotland after netting a dramatic stoppage-time winner on his debut against Livingston, he stated: ‘Massive. Whenever I go anywhere, I want to win.

‘I am sure everyone in that dressing room feels the same way. That is part of my DNA and part of what motivates me for sure.

‘First things first, just to get out on the pitch, to be able to help the lads take three points, that is massive. I can just build from here.’

Introduced by Martin O’Neill after 78 minutes of a game in which Celtic were threatening to stumble, Oxlade-Chamberlain’s intervention was the latest dramatic twist in a season which has been laden with them.

It was a long time coming – 276 days, for those who were counting. Substituted in what proved to be his last appearance for Besiktas against Adana Demirspor last May, the midfielder had spent this season to date training with former club Arsenal.

There was talk of a deal under Mikel Arteta, but it didn’t materialise. With other rumours of interest remaining just that, the perception grew that a highly talented player was now damaged goods.

‘It has been difficult,’ he admitted. ‘Sometimes the way things go in football, especially when you cross that 30 years of age barrier, you are maybe not as valuable as you once were in a business sense. I always knew I still had a lot to give.

‘Training every day for the last three months, and where I was training, gave me the confidence in that environment that I can still offer a lot to the game.’

You can well understand why news of his impending move to Celtic was greeted with a degree of scepticism by many supporters.

For every Lubo Moravcik down the years, Parkhead has been a last staging post on the road to retirement for too many thirtysomethings whose best days were behind them.

But Martin O’Neill didn’t hesitate when the prospect of signing the free agent was put to him.

It appears Oxlade-Chamberlain would have walked over hot coals to get to Glasgow once the veteran sold him on the idea of reinvigorating a decorated career north of the border.

‘It gives me a chance,’ he said. ‘It is an amazing opportunity. When it came up, I didn’t doubt it for one second.

‘It is a long way from home, but even that was not a factor for me coming here. My family was really supportive of it. You don’t get chances to play for clubs like this.

‘My dad (former Stoke and England player Mark) is from an era back in the day where this club means a lot.

‘He was straight away telling me: “I’ll get you in the car now and drive you up there myself!”

Joe Hart, a long-standing England team-mate, had already laid the groundwork, his three years in goal at Parkhead the perfect riposte to those who suggested he was a spent force.

‘I was speaking to Harty maybe four weeks ago about this place and this was before this opportunity had even come up,’ added Oxlade-Chamberlain.

‘He was just telling me about his time here, how much he loved it ,and how the stadium can be when things are going well. I have just seen a real good glimpse of it.’

After a debut that felt straight out of a comic-strip story, a congratulatory text from his erstwhile Anfield team-mate and Celtic fan Andy Robertson is now anticipated.

‘If it’s not, I will be disappointed,’ he smiled.

‘He’s a good boy. I am sure he is going to drop me a text for sure and, if he’s not, I will be texting him to remind him.

‘I need to look at the phone and see what’s happening. People might see that I am still alive and kicking. It’s a good day.’

Wednesday turned out to be just that for O’Neill and his players. On course to fall five points adrift of Rangers, Oxlade-Chamberlain’s winner, coupled with Stephen Welsh’s heroics at Fir Park, resulted in a four-point swing.

In what was another significant night in this engrossing title race, news of an on-loan Parkhead player depriving Rangers of two precious points was greeted almost as joyously by Celtic fans as their own late winner.

‘I didn’t hear that,’ added Oxlade-Chamberlain. ‘I was out of the changing room, so that is nice to know.

‘You can’t focus too much on everyone else. The job is to win all the games. That is what we need to be looking to do every time we step on the pitch.

‘I think that is what this football club aspires to do every time we step over the white line.

‘Results like that might go for you, or they might go against you, but we just need to focus on everything that we can control, and that is our results.

‘Games like that where we dominate a fair bit of the ball, I think we have just got to be a bit more clinical and maybe a bit more commanding and get a few more goals when you can.’

On the back of another late, late show, in the Scottish Cup tie with Dundee, O’Neill acknowledged that his side can’t continue to ride their luck.

No side which spurns so many chances as Celtic did across both matches can reasonably expect to succeed.

With a class act like Oxlade-Chamberlain now on board, though, O’Neill’s side already look better equipped to ensure they can get the job done with more to spare.

‘I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have a think about that when I was on my way in earlier,’ said the match-winner.

‘Those are the moments you dream of, playing at places like this and being able to impact the game, help the team and create moments like that.

‘It is a great start. I have loved every minute of it, and I hope for many more moments like that.

‘It means a lot. I have to say a big thank you to everyone at Arsenal for giving me the chance to keep my fitness up.

‘Then an even bigger thank you to the manager here and this football club for giving me the chance to put on this kit and play for this amazing club. When you get those opportunities, you want to be able to pay back with moments of quality like that.’