Celtic star Jonny Hayes is in awe of the fitness levels of Hoops skipper Scott Brown and has suggested that the 34-year-old ages in reverse, likening him to fictional movie character Benjamin Button.
The Scottish Premiership champions defeated Motherwell 2-0 at Celtic Park in the league on Sunday, just three days after they registered a victory over Lazio in Italy, and Hoops midfielder Hayes could not hold himself back from lauding the fitness levels of his team-mates.
Hayes, who has been playing senior football for over ten years, feels the current Celtic squad have the fittest players he has ever played with and explained that registering a win in the league following a European away trip has become second nature for the side.
The 32-year-old lauded the work-rate of midfielder Ryan Christie, Callum McGregor and James Forrest, but is completely in awe of 34-year-old Brown's fitness.
Hayes pointed out how the Celtic captain keeps proving his critics wrong with his fitness despite being on the wrong side of 30 and feels the Scotsman is like movie character Benjamin Button, suggesting that the player ages backwards.
“I’ve never been involved with a fitter group of players”, Hayes told Celtic's official site.
“You see the work-rate week in, week out from the likes of Broony [Brown], Ryan, Cal [McGregor] and James.
"It’s second nature at this stage, coming back from Europe and playing at the weekend.
“Cal looks after himself brilliantly, and we all take our example from the captain.
"Broony has a bit of Benjamin Button about him.
"He keeps proving people wrong with how fit he is and his determination in games. We look up to him. We’ve got such a strong squad.”
Brown has made 26 appearances across all competitions for Celtic this season and even scored a brace in the side's 5-2 win against Hibernian in the Scottish League Cup.
