Liel Abada will make his first ever start for Israel in Thursday’s Nations League match against Iceland, according to Sport 5.
The Israeli report has revealed that Abada is being eyed up to feature alongside Manor Solomon and Munas Dabbur in the starting XI for manager Alon Hazan’s first game in charge.
It comes after Abada had only been featuring in cameo roles for former boss Willibald Ruttensteiner. Abada was then sent down to the under-21s for their Euro qualifying matches back in March.
Sport 5 reported last week that new boss Hazan is a big fan of Abada. It’s claimed that the new Israel boss had previously been urging the former managerial team to give the Celtic man more opportunities and build him up for the future.
However, now he finally looks set to get that chance after an amazing debut campaign at Parkhead. Israel will travel to Albania and Iceland in their final 2 games of the international camp, with those games taking place on June 10th and 13th respectively.
Abada, meanwhile, racked up 15 goals and 11 assists in 54 appearances last term [Transfermarkt]. A stunning return for a player just 20 years of age.
Liel Abada set for big Israel achievement later this week
It’s always great to see Celtic players rewarded for their club form on the international stage. However, it means a little bit more given the hoops Abada has had to jump through when it comes to the Israeli set-up.
He has a lot of talented forwards operating ahead of him and it’s made things difficult. Abada should’ve been playing a bigger role during their European Championship qualifiers last year, especially considering the form he was in at Celtic Park at the time.
But that never came to fruition. Instead, Liel was constantly overlooked for the likes of Solomon, Dabbur, and Eran Zahavi. Despite constant failures from Israel, they still wouldn’t turn to the Celtic man when it was clear they needed to start building for the future.
Thankfully, that looks like being the case when it comes to Hazan. If he gives Abada his first-ever international start on Thursday, it gives Liel a real platform to go and make the right-wing spot his own.
It’s also reassuring to the player himself. He now knows that his Celtic form will indeed allow him to reach his own international ambitions so long as he performs for his country when he gets those opportunities. That’s big for Liel and big for the club too.
Hopefully, if he does start, he shows up well and puts in a good performance. It’s all there for him now, and it looks as though the managerial change with the Israeli set-up is going to benefit him massively.
In other news, Report: Vincent Kompany could gatecrash potential Celtic move for Taylor Harwood-Bellis
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