There are many Celtic players who stepped up to the plate when required for yesterday’s trip to Ibrox in the first Glasgow Derby of the season.
Joe Hart was tremendous in goal, Matt O’Riley was excellent in the heart of the midfield and Kyogo was superb at leading the attack up top.
But there was one player who really shone in yesterday’s victory and it was the one player that every Celtic fan had concerns about. Liam Scales.
The 25-year-old Irish defender was thrown into yesterday’s derby by Brendan Rodgers due to the team’s current injury crisis and didn’t he do well?
A Man of the Match performance ensured Celtic were victors and Hoops captain, Callum McGregor was very impressed with his teammate’s performance.
McGregor said [Daily Record], “He is really strong, good on the ball, and reads the game really well. He was brilliant in his duels as well.
“You need your big players to step up and he did that. He had a tremendous performance. Big Lager as well. You understand at times at Ibrox you are going to be under the pump and need your defenders and goalkeeper.
“Sometimes in football you need a moment to galvanise the group and, hopefully, that is it. You can feel it in the changing room, there is no better place to win.”
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Celtic’s Ibrox win could be a catalyst for the rest of the season
Celtic have had an indifferent start to the domestic campaign. A 4-2 win on Flag Day was followed up by a very good 3-1 away win at Pittodrie. However, the wins couldn’t hide the fact that the Hoops looked shaky at points in both fixtures.
And those performances caught up with them against Kilmarnock and St Johnstone as Killie knocked Celtic out of the League Cup and St Johnstone took a point away from Celtic Park.
Failing to score in either of those games caused concern for the Celtic fans ahead of the Ibrox fixture and also heaped pressure on Parkhead boss, Brendan Rodgers.
Now, after the win, Rodgers and the team will have had a huge confidence boost for the rest of the season. Winning at Ibrox is always a brilliant result, but when you can do so when you are missing the likes of Cameron Carter-Vickers and Reo Hatate, Rodgers and the team deserve all the plaudits for pulling off such a huge result.
Up next for the Hoops is a home tie against Dundee on the 16th of September where they will hope to build on the Ibrox performance and continue their dominance in the league.
In other news, Matt O’Riley and Kyogo Furuhashi very impressed by £15k-a-week Celtic player’s performance vs Rangers