Martin O’Neill is undoubtedly delighted to get into the Scottish Cup semi-final after watching Celtic beat Rangers on penalties.
The spot-kick drama caused some unsavoury Ibrox scenes as fans poured onto the pitch as emotions took over.
However, getting back to the football, O’Neill admits that he was ‘concerned’ when he heard Reo Hatate was named as one of the penalty takers as the Celtic boss explains why he was worried.
You can only keep one of Daizen Maeda or Reo Hatate at Celtic…
Who do you pick?
Martin O’Neill’s Celtic penalty worry about Reo Hatate
Reo Hatate scored a penalty in Celtic’s draw with Rangers in the SPFL, and when the Japan star was named as a spot kick taker, O’Neill admits he got the fear.
O’Neill told Sky Sports News, “You practice the penalties but you can’t replicate it.
“You certainly cannot do. It doesn’t matter. And you know after Reo last Sunday taking the penalties, once I saw that Reo was down as one of the five penalty takers, you know I might have been a bit concerned.
“But it didn’t take him three attempts to put it in and he wanted to take the penalty.
“And the most important thing I think about these things is that the five of them wanted to take take penalties. That’s great.”
Reo Hatate is hitting form just in time for Celtic’s title run in
Reo Hatate has had an indifferent season for Celtic so far as the Japanese midfielder struggles for form.
Excellent performances like the one in Celtic’s win against Feyenoord have been few and far between for Hatate.
But now, it seems the 28-year-old is starting to burst into life. Excellent in Celtic’s draw at Rangers, Hatate was also on form in the win at Aberdeen at Pittodrie last week.
And now, it seems he is back to his best, and confident, which is great news for Celtic for the rest of the SPFL season.
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