Celtic’s brilliant season could be capped off in the most special way this afternoon if the Bhoys beat Inverness Caledonian Thistle in the Scottish Cup Final.
Having already won the Scottish League Cup and the Scottish Premiership, victory today would mean that Ange Postecoglou’s side secure a treble – the eighth in the club’s history.
It’s far from a formality despite entering the Hampden tie as favourites, Inverness will be out to deliver an enormous shock. A strong team performance is required – but who will make up the eleven? Here’s our best go at today’s team…
Celtic predicted team vs Inverness CT
Joe Hart will assuredly start in goal, as he has done for the vast majority of the season to date. He’s aiming to join the rare club of people who have won all three domestic medals in Scotland and England.
Ahead of him is where the first big Ange call of the day lies. Carl Starfelt will feature in the Celtic defence but it’s unclear if the manager will go for Tomoki Iwata or Yuki Kobayashi beside him. Kobayashi is a more natural defender but Iwata was in place for last week’s thumping of Aberdeen, the best performance from the team since Cameron Carter-Vickers was injured. For that reason, we’ve gone with Iwata here.
Alistair Johnston has overcome recent fitness concerns and should feature on the right flank, while Greg Taylor will definitely be in place at left-back.
With Aaron Mooy out and Iwata in our defence, the midfield three of Callum McGregor, Matt O’Riley and Reo Hatate almost picks itself. They’ll be tasked with providing the creativity for the forward line, which could be changed from last week.
Daizen Maeda is a contender to come back into the team in place of Liel Abada after serving a suspension last week. Portuguese star Jota will take his place on the opposite flank.
That just leaves Kyogo Furuhashi, who we’re hoping makes today’s starting eleven despite picking up a knock last weekend. He didn’t train for most of the week but Postecoglou sounded hopeful he could take part yesterday and feature today. Hyeongyu Oh will be available to fill in if Kyogo doesn’t quite make it.
Your predicted XI in full is: Hart, Johnston, Starfelt, Iwata, Taylor, McGregor, Hatate, O’Riley, Jota, Maeda, Kyogo.
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