Video: Celtic star Liel Abada's cracking strike for Israel U21s on crucial night

By Euan Davidson

March 24, 2022

You can’t keep a good man down, and you can’t keep Celtic star Liel Abada from scoring goals.

The winger was dropped to U21 level for Israel, given the importance of their games against Poland and Germany. It seemed a curious decision, but it’s immediately paid off, with Abada scoring a classy goal to keep Israel level in U21 Euro qualifying.

Taking the ball just inside the box, Abada capitalises on Poland’s defensive disorganisation, and rather than smashing it low past a despairing keeper, he scoops the ball into the top corner. It’s lovely stuff.

Since arriving at Celtic, we’ve seen Liel Abada score an array of goals. His instinctive strikes, his headers, his ability to make Rangers defenders give up; it’s all been a delight.

With Israel one down, they needed real leadership to get back in the game, to set up another crucial tie against Germany. With qualification for the Euro 2023 on the line, it’s little wonder Abada was picked to drop a level from the senior side.

It paid off.

Here’s the goal, via Everything Celtic:

What a man.

It takes humility to accept the role that Liel Abada was given. Context, though, is important. With the Israeli senior side just playing friendlies, why wouldn’t you utilise one of Europe’s form wingers?

And that’s no exaggeration. Abada has racked up a considerable 25 goal contributions (14 goals, 11 assists) this season for Celtic [Transfermarkt], in just under 50 games. Pretty remarkable stuff from the young forward.

Celtic star Liel Abada doing the business for club and country

It seemed in the script that Liel Abada would have a telling influence on Israel U21s fortunes tonight. That’s proven the case, with Poland finding out just how good he is.

Unfortunately for Abada, Israel couldn’t hold on to a 2-1 lead they developed in the second half. Poland secured a late equaliser to make it 2-2, through a very familiar name: Maciej Zurawski. Obviously, not that one.

Whether he’s a striker, on the left or right, Abada has shown enormous potential. While his efforts might’ve been overshadowed by other star signings, his first season at Celtic has been hard to beat. What’s scary is, there’s still a lot he could contribute.

That’s before we even get to thinking about the next few years. It might be a real struggle to keep Liel Abada in the long-term.

Written off before he even arrived, described as a Dudu Dahan courtesy signing, Abada has turned heads across Europe with his performances.

This one is just the latest.

So, it’s absolutely not a surprise that Abada did the business for Israel tonight, is it? Just a shame for him that they couldn’t seal an all-important three points.

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