Tuesday was a busy day for some of Celtic’s stars as the international programme drew to a close.
The first break of the season arrived at a decent time for those of a Hoops persuasion. Having just tasted victory at the home of our rivals, and with a number of players still out through injury, most at Celtic would have been happy for a few week’s respite.
That breather didn’t extend to our international call-ups who jetted straight off to play for their respective countries. Included in the party were the likes of Callum McGregor, Kyogo Furuhashi and Hyeongyu Oh.
Those three were all amongst the action on Tuesday in a pretty successful day for the countries containing Celtic stars.
Oh was a very late substitute in South Korea’s 1-0 win over Saudi Arabia at St James’ Park. Fellow Celtic man Hyunjun Yang didn’t get off the bench at all after making his international debut on Thursday.
Japan were also playing in Europe during the break. They backed up their sensational win over Germany with a 4-2 defeat of Turkey in Genk. Kyogo played the entire match but failed to get on the scoresheet. Daizen Maeda came on as a half-time sub.
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At under-21 level, Paulo Bernardo got another important 90 minutes in his legs. His Portugal side thrashed Belarus 5-0. Odin Thiago Holm, meanwhile, played 17 minutes of Norway under-21’s 7-0 win over Latvia.
McGregor was in the tastiest match of the day — Scotland vs England. As you would expect, the Hoops skipper played the vast majority of the Hampden clash before being subbed late on.
An impressive England won the game 3-1, ending a run of five straight Scotland victories. Despite the result, McGregor put in an assured performance alongside the likes of Scott McTominay and Billy Gilmour in midfield.
Our captain was one of his country’s best players on a largely disappointing evening. He always seems to look comfortable at the very top level of football. That’s good news ahead of our Champions League campaign beginning on Tuesday.
Our international stars will now make their way back to Lennoxtown to prepare for Saturday’s game against Dundee.
In other news, Bosun Lawal still seems to be hopeful about a future career at Celtic