Celtic striker Giorgos Giakoumakis has stated that he’s feeling “great” and ready to fire the Hoops to Hampden tomorrow night.
Giakoumakis made a terrific start to 2022 after taking advantage of Kyogo Furuhashi’s injury absence. The big Greek managed to score 6 goals in 7 starts including a memorable hat-trick against Dundee.
However, the Hoops were rocked when the former VVV-Venlo man was sidelined with an illness for recent games. Giakoumakis missed matches against Hibernian, Bodo/Glimt, and St Mirren respectively. He returned in a 15-minute cameo at Livingston last week, and will hope to be starting at Tannadice tomorrow.
And he’ll certainly be ready and available for Ange to throw him back into the starting line-up. He’s been speaking to Celtic TV recently, and delivered an emphatic message to supporters:
“I feel great. I’m feeling okay, like nothing happened. I just missed some training because I was sick. So I missed 4 or 5 training sessions. But now I’m back and back to reality. I had a tough time for the first 6 months here so of course I had to work more. After the break I was trying to be fit, trying to make my fitness at the top level so I could be part of the squad.
“I played some games and I showed that I’m ready for the squad and to help the team, achieve many things, and score some goals. As I said before many times, one of my jobs is to score some goals, and help my team to win some games.
“No matter what game it is or what challenge it is, whether it is a cup game or a league game, I want to score in every single game. That’s my target for the cup game against Dundee United and I hope that I can score some goals and help my team into the next round.”
Giorgos Giakoumakis adds to Celtic firepower at a key time
Celtic have been walking a tightrope with Giakoumakis injured in recent matches. Only Daizen Maeda has been available as a viable, reliable option. Had anything happened to the Japanese international, Albian Ajeti would’ve been next in line. Perish the thought and all that.
So having him back and feeling good about himself is great news for the Hoops. It’s difficult to tell whether he was fit enough to feature for more than 15 minutes at Livingston. It could’ve just been the case that Ange wanted to ease him back into things after his illness as opposed to simply having him as back-up to Maeda.
Giakoumakis, however, has made more of an impact than anyone else in this Celtic team since January. He’s completely reinvented himself and has become a viable contender to battle it out with Kyogo for minutes when he returns.
He adds to the firepower at such a crucial time of the season. Whilst Celtic have had a decent enough break in their schedule over the last week, it won’t be long before the fixture list is cranked up in intensity once more.
Ahead of the title run-in, it’s great to have someone like Giorgos available for selection. Someone who clearly has such confidence in his own ability and that of his teammates.
Hopefully, he makes his mark at Tannadice tomorrow night. You feel he could do with it to properly mark his return to action.
In other news, Dundee United boss delivers verdict on why Celtic allocation has been cut tomorrow
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