Celtic star given surprising international call-up despite limited minutes, joined by teammate

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Celtic will soon take a short pause from Scottish Premiership action once the March international break commences next week.

Brendan Rodgers’ men take on St Johnstone this Saturday and have a chance to move ahead of Rangers for a day, at least, in the league standings, before some of his squad jet far and wide to feature for their respective nations.

Unfortunately, South Korea have decided not to call up Celtic duo Hyeongyu Oh and Hyunjun Yang; nevertheless, the latter could be called into the Taeguek Warriors’ Under-23 set-up for their upcoming West Asian Football Confederation (WAFF) U-23 Championship in Saudi Arabia.

Callum McGregor is out due to a calf/Achilles issue and will miss Scotland’s friendly double-header against the Netherlands and Northern Ireland.

Speaking last week, Rodgers gave a timeline for his potential return, stating: “Fingers crossed again, we can get to the bottom of that, and he’ll be available after the international break.”

Reo Hatate may also be in contention before too long, with the Irishman signalling that the dynamic midfielder is scheduled to re-enter the fold at training once the Scottish Premiership resumption commences.

Celtic’s Anthony Ralston and Greg Taylor receive Scotland call-ups

Closer to home, Celtic duo Anthony Ralston and Greg Taylor have been called up by Scotland boss Steve Clarke and will be part of their squad heading into the fixtures mentioned above against the Netherlands and Northern Ireland.

Some other familiar faces to Hoops supporters have made the cut, including former players Craig Gordon, Jack Hendry, Kieran Tierney, Stuart Armstrong and Ryan Christie.

The Tartan Army travel to Amsterdam to face Ronald Koeman’s Netherlands a week on Friday; meanwhile, they face Northern Ireland at Hampden four days later.

Out of the two Bhoys called up, there may be some surprise regarding Ralston’s selection, given he has started just seven times in 16 appearances this term across all competitions [Transfermarkt].

Nevertheless, the 25-year-old has always shown himself as a reliable contributor for club and country, and hopefully, he and Taylor can take a step closer to working their way into Clarke’s plans for EURO 2024.