PATRICK ROBERTS yesterday spoke of his sadness at the tragic events in Manchester which took place close to where he once lived.

The Celtic winger is, of course, on loan from Manchester City and tweeted his support for the city yesterday morning when the full scale of what happened at the Arena began to be revealed.

On Twitter, he posted; "Horrible to hear what happened in Manchester, thoughts and prayers to everyone affected #PrayForManchester #ManchesterTogether."

Roberts was clearly upset and what happened in what for six months was his adopted hometown, especially as he knew the venue and area so well.

He said: "It’s a tragic thing to happen and my thoughts go out to all the families. They were just girls and boys going to watch a concert.

“It wasn’t far from where I was living in Manchester. It was not nice to wake up and see so many people had died. It’s a horrible thing to have happened in the world and my thoughts are with everyone involved.

“I’ve been to the Arena a few times, it is the main arena in Manchester and they have a lot of things on there.

“You never quite know what is going to happen and it’s just so sad that people are going to a concert and a bomb goes off.

Roberts was a regular to the Manchester Arena even before he moved to the north West from Fulham.

He said: "I’m a London boy so I went to the Arena with my friends from there. It’s just a terrible thing.

"It makes you think given how close I lived to it. This is a tragedy.

“But it does bring out the best in people. It does bring the world together.

"But in saying that what a sad thing to witness for the people who were there.

"It does put life and football in perspective. You can never taken anything for granted and you just have to life live every day.”