Celtic have ended the Scottish Premiership weekend as they started it, eight points clear at the top of the table.
Brendan Rodgers’ side thrashed Aberdeen by a 6-0 margin at Celtic Park thanks to fine goals from Hyunjun Yang, Kyogo Furuhashi, Luis Palma, David Turnbull and Hyeongyu Oh.
Yang had the Bhoys ahead within nine minutes after heading home Luis Palma’s fine cross. Later, the South Korean sprung open the Aberdeen defence to release Matt O’Riley, who squared the ball for Kyogo to finish.
Then, Palma struck a sweet, sweet penalty to end the contest at three up. David Turnbull netted yet another goal from outside of the box to further boost his chances of regular appearances. Palma provided a glorious, pin point cross for Oh to gobble up, before O’Riley fed the South Korean to round off the scoring with a double.
The result moves Celtic onto 35 points after just 13 matches. The reigning champions remain the only unbeaten side in the entire division. But what were the big talking points coming out of the encounter? Here are three of ours…
Hyunjun Yang fills Celtic need superbly
With Daizen Maeda out injured, Celtic badly needed someone to step up and replace his contribution. Rodgers trusted Yang with that and he delivered.
Celtic supporters have been waiting for a performance like that from the 21-year-old. He had shown glimpses of quality since arriving in the summer transfer window but failed to provide much end product in his 14 appearances to date.
His goal was coolly taken to open the scoring and it was his lovely threaded ball that unpicked a deep Dons defence for the second of the afternoon. Had he not received a hefty blow to the face in the second half he could have contributed even more.
There are encouraging signs here and if he can find consistency then it will really help the Bhoys out with the current injury situation.
Concern for Kyogo
Kyogo deserved the chat around him this afternoon to be his latest Scottish Premiership goal, but there ended up being a concern for the Japanese star after a shocking challenge from Aberdeen man Sloboadan Rubezic in the second half.
The Serbian was lucky not to be sent off after charging in full force with his head into Kyogo. It was reckless and dangerous. The Celtic striker was lying prone for quite a while but eventually left the field under his own power, albeit dazed and groggy.
Celtic will now assess the forward to see if there’s been a concussion or any other damage. Kyogo will be desperate to join up with the Japan squad for World Cup qualifiers during the international break but there’s no guarantee he’ll be travelling now.
Luis Palma continues to shine
Palma took his attacking tally so far this season to five Celtic goals and five assists after another fine display in the Premiership. The Honduran was arguably the Bhoys’ man of the match on the day and was a constant threat from the first whistle to the last.
His cross for Hyunjun Yang perhaps should have been dealt with better by the Dons goalkeeper but it was still a vicious ball into the box. And he addressed Celtic’s penalty woes with a very confident, unstoppable strike from the spot.
Turnbull’s goal was all about the finish from range, but Palma will still be credited with an assist after squaring the ball from the left.
His third assist was truly wonderful – a sumptuous cross into Hyeongyu Oh with the outside of his boot. Masterful stuff.
Jota was always going to be a very hard player to replace and the comparisons to the Portuguese have been rather unfair on Palma since joining Celtic. He has his own style of play and there’s a long way to go to consider him as effective as his predecessor, but the attacker is an enjoyable player to watch and is increasingly looking like a quality transfer buy.
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