Celtic’s win over Livingston yesterday in the Scottish Cup quarter-final at Parkhead was a hard-fought affair.
David Martindale’s side made Celtic work hard for their win but despite battling back twice in the match, two late goals from Daizen Maeda and Kyogo Furuhashi were eventually enough to send Brendan Rodgers’ Hoops to Hampden.
Despite having much of the possession and many gilt-edged chances, Celtic had to wait until the dying minutes to secure their win.
There were a few standouts in the Parkhead performance. Clearly, Daizen Maeda was the man of the moment and Joe Hart had to make a goal-line save to prevent Livingston going ahead when they drew level at 2-2.
But it was what Nicolas Kuhn did that left match co-commentator, Stephen Craigan absolutely blown away.
Nicolas Kuhn impresses for Celtic
The German winger has struggled since his £3m move to Celtic in January. Flitting appearances from the bench meant that his gametime has been limited.
But against Livingston yesterday, Craigan couldn’t believe the passing he was seeing from the 24-year-old.
Craigan said [Viaplay Sports], “I have to say that’s delicious from Nicolas Kuhn. Just drifts this time inside the pitch on his left foot. It’s a lovely little scooped pass into the path of Paulo Bernardo.
“Just runners from midfield, Steven Kelly completely switches off, once he’s there [Bernardo], should he score?
“I probably think he should but Brendan Rodgers will be delighted with the penetrating run from midfield.
“However, Nicolas Kuhn is really lighting this game up.”
Kuhn has been under the spotlight since his January move. The hype of Rodgers being desperate to add quality to the Celtic team leading up to the winter window probably put a lot of pressure on him and set the expectations of the fans too high.
Now that he seems to be over his issue with his teeth, Kuhn looked bright and sharp yesterday and, hopefully, he can kick on now and help Celtic have a successful end to this season.
In other news, PFA Scotland CEO shares opinion on how Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers handled John Beaton situation
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