What fans may not have noticed about Arne Engles, Alex Valle and Maeda as Celtic punish Aberdeen

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Celtic fans can now look forward to another date at Hampden after destroying Aberdeen in the League Cup semi-final last night.

There was a lot of hype surrounding this tie after Aberdeen’s Celtic Park fightback last month as they clawed their way back from 2-0 down to claim a point.

That result was clearly in the back of the Celtic players’ minds as they made sure no such fightback happened after the Hoops’ 6-0 annihilation of Aberdeen at Hampden.

Whilst Daizen Maeda stole the show with his hattrick, fans might not have noticed what the Japanese winger, Arne Engels and on-loan Barcelona defender, Alex Valle did in a day Aberdeen will want to forget.

Daizen Maeda and Alex Valle have now struck up a good partnership at Celtic

Young Valle arrived at Celtic from Barcelona a relatively unknown quantity in the summer to help give competition to Greg Taylor in the left-back position this season.

Valle struggled in his Celtic debut against Falkirk but the one thing he didn’t have then that he does now is Daizen Maeda playing in front of him.

The Japanese wingers work rate at Celtic is priceless and the person that has benefitted most from that is Valle.

Having that support has allowed Valle to flourish and both players are starting to create a nice little partnership on the left just as Alistair Johnston and Nicolas Kuhn have on the right.

The passages of play between the two as well as the understanding both Maeda and Valle have of each others game now is not only a worry for the opposition but also for Taylor and the Celtic defender has a job ahead of him now to win his first-team place back.

Arne Engels’ brilliant all-round performance for Celtic vs Aberdeen at Hampden

Arne Engels is Celtic’s record signing after arriving in the summer from Augsburg for £11.5m. Scoring Making his debut in the win over Rangers and then scoring in his first start against Hearts, the young Belgian enjoyed a good start to his Celtic career.

Bizarrely, Engels had to be defended by Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers after a small dip in form had the 20-year-old in the crosshairs of some critics.

However, against Aberdeen the young Belgian was superb as he lay on two assists and showed a side to his game Celtic fans have not seen before.

Engels’ defensive work in the midfield was superb as he chased Aberdeen all over the pitch to help Celtic retain possession whenever it was lost against Jimmy Thelin’s side.

The youngster looked right up for the big game and his performance against Aberdeen will do wonders for his confidence just in time for Tuesday night’s visit of RB Leipzig in the Champions League.