Celtic striker Giorgos Giakoumakis had opened up on the superb Josip Juranovic moment that went under the radar at Parkhead yesterday.
The Greek forward bagged a sensational hat-trick against Ross County in a 4-0 rout that put us 6 points clear at the top of the Premiership. However, his final goal which came from the spot was only bagged because Juranovic graciously allowed him to take over the penalty duties.
Juranovic is the current first-choice Celtic penalty taker. However, he refused to allow the opportunity of back-to-back Celtic Park hat-tricks pass Giakoumakis by. The Greek forward then responded by scoring and performing Jura’s trademark celebration. You can see it for yourself below:
It was a brilliant moment that captured the team spirit of this Celtic side perfectly. And Giakoumakis has touched on it after being asked about the penalty on Celtic TV:
“Yes, he was supposed to shoot the penalty and he gave me the ball and I scored a hat-trick. Of course after that we celebrated together and I did his celebration.
“It was something really nice.”
Celtic showing the team spirit required to take us to the title
This was just brilliant stuff from Celtic and it’s something that really showed the togetherness that’s brewing within this group of players. The kind of togetherness needed to go and take the title from Rangers.
Juranovic is only on 5 goals for the season so far [Transfermarkt]. He doesn’t get many, and it’s clear the only real opportunities he does have to score is from penalties. Therefore, it would’ve been easy for him to command the ball yesterday and take it himself. He doesn’t get many Celtic Park moments like that.
Instead, he noticed the position Giakoumakis was in. He knew that it was important our main striker completed his hat-trick just 2 weeks out from a trip to Ibrox.
It also allowed Giak to exorcise some demons at the same-time. After all, his most infamous moment in a Celtic jersey came from the Parkhead penalty spot against Livingston last October. This was the first penalty he’s scored at Celtic Park since then. It was confident, classy, and you felt like he needed it despite already being in-form.
Now, we await to see how our players return from international duty. Ange will be keeping an eye on all matches most likely through his fingers. We can’t afford anything to happen to our star men ahead of what will be a potential title-defining match against Rangers.
But one thing’s for sure, there’s trust within this team for their teammates. You can see the bond they all have with each other, and this moment only highlighted that fact further.
In other news, Carl Starfelt the latest to deliver perfect response to media’s question on Celtic rivals
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