Paulo Bernardo is in a very unique situation in his young career.

The Portugal U21 stalwart, just under four months into his loan spell at Celtic from Benfica, is attached to two of the biggest and most historic names in European football, with both massive entities in their respective nations.

With an option to buy at the end of his loan deal, the midfielder is looking to do enough to secure a permanent deal from his parent club to Brendan Rodgers’ side, though he says he uses his experiences at his parent club to spur him on when he plays for the Scottish champions. When asked about this, the talented prospect said “We are at Celtic, a big club. We have to win all of the games that we participate in.

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“In Benfica, it happened too, so I think all of my youth teams in Benfica were like that also. Benfica is a big club and Celtic too. I think they are quite similar clubs, and the demands are to win every game. In Benfica, it is the same.”

Bernardo has been a stalwart in the team, ever since Celtic went on that two-game run of consecutive defeats in the Scottish Premiership to Kilmarnock and Hearts respectively. After scoring his first goal for the club on Boxing day against Dundee at Dens Park, he marked his debut Glasgow Derby appearance with a stunning goal, inflicting new Rangers manager Phillippe Clement his first defeat whilst in charge of Celtic’s greatest rivals.

Recently, Celtic’s performances have not been great, despite winning the majority of their games since their return from the winter break. Bernardo recognises this, yet believes the club will return to their previous good form performance-wise. He said: “We need to always improve our game. We need to improve in training and play in the games and give a bit more than we can do.

We had a great time before the break, and we have to replicate that level. That comes with confidence and playing more games. I think we are playing better each game, and we just need to keep going. We have a long season, we have ups and downs, we just have to stick together - the team, the coaches and the fans - and keep going and improve with every game.”

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Bernardo and Celtic face St Mirren on Sunday afternoon in the fifth round of the Scottish Cup. After scoring in the last match, the 22-year-old is keen to sample some more success in the historic competition, at a ground he excelled in just over a month ago. He said: “We need to look at this game as a new game.”

 “We need to look at the other game to see what we did good and what we did that was not so good in order to improve and keep going. It's always good to play. The confidence levels go higher. I think we players improve more in games than in training, so it’s better for us to play the games.”

Having first-hand experience of playing under an expectant club before in his career in the shape of Portuguese giants Benfica, Bernardo will hope that wisdom assists him come Sunday afternoon in Paisley, like it did last time.