MIGHTY MOUSSA IS BACK IN BUSINESS
THE curling, right-footed finish that secured a place in the final of the Betfred Cup was an elegant, beautiful thing to brighten a dreich afternoon. The warning that followed it, though, should elicit little other than deep, dark fear from the rest of Scottish football.
Moussa Dembele is back, all right. And he is promising another deluge of goals.
The 21-year-old Frenchman lit a fuse under Celtic’s campaign both at home and abroad last season with a haul of 32 from 49 appearances that sparked transfer rumours involving everyone from Marseille to Manchester United and back again via Milan.
Hamstring issues, though, had restricted him to just one goal since March until yesterday’s 4-2 win over Hibernian. Talk of a £25million tug-of-war for his signature had lost much of its flavour.
Dembele is clear, though. Two more important goals after replacing Leigh Griffiths with 29 minutes to play at Hampden are just the beginning. He is back operating at full power and more than ready to wreak the same havoc as last term.
‘I have been fit for a few weeks now,’ said Dembele. ‘I have been waiting for my time to come on and show what I can do.
‘I am happy to get two goals and happy for the team that we are through to another final. I am ready as soon the manager needs me on the pitch. I am fit to produce what I produced last season.’
Dembele is not the type of player who inflates his record by racking up hatfuls of goals against cannon fodder. He scores when it matters.
There was the hat-trick against Rangers last season, two against Manchester City in the Champions League, one in Monchengladbach, the winner in an Old Firm League Cup semi and a penalty-kick in the final.
It is a point not lost on goalkeeper Craig Gordon, who believes the French Under-21 striker can be close to unstoppable on the kind of form shown in his cameo appearance against Hibs.
‘He’s a big-game player. That’s the importance he has for us and why we need him fit and playing to that standard,’ said Gordon.
‘If he does, there are not many teams who can stop him. It’s great to see him back among the goals and I’m sure he will gain confidence to add to the fitness and sharpness.
‘When we saw him coming off the bench we knew he’d be a good option for us with his link-up and hold-up play. We know when he gets those kind of chances, he sticks them away. It’s a massive plus for us having him back to form.’
It is not exactly a massive plus for Griffiths. The Scotland striker, although quiet yesterday, has been excellent for Celtic. There is, of course, the possibility that Brendan Rodgers could play both him and Dembele in the same starting line-up. But the clever money is on the former Fulham man taking precedence as the central point of the attack in the majority of games.
Gordon, though, insists that both men should see plenty of game-time over the rest of the season given Celtic’s hectic fixture list and the high hopes that exist of remaining in Europe beyond Christmas.
‘Leigh did a lot of hard work for the team, closing them down and tiring out defenders. He’s got a job to do and he did that for an hour,’ said the Scotland No 1.
‘It was the same against Bayern in midweek and he did it again for another hour. It’s hard work.
‘To have someone of the quality of Moussa coming on gives great options for the manager.
‘They can also play together at times. Normally, it’s one or the other, but, at times, the manager has put them together in different games.
‘They are both going to get time on the pitch and they’ll both score goals — because that’s what they are both about.’
The current run of games for Celtic is, of course, particularly brutal. The cup win over Hibs followed a chasing at the hands of Bayern
Munich in the Champions League. Next up is Pittodrie for what will be a high-octane evening against a side harbouring hopes of going top of the Ladbrokes Premiership.
‘You get used to playing so many games,’ said Gordon. ‘You find a way, like we did today.
‘There’s a little bit of tiredness on the back of the Bayern game, but the way we moved the ball about and the way we made them work hard was the most pleasing thing.
‘We find ways to win games, whether we are coming off the back of European games or have had a week to prepare.
‘Hibs are a good team with a lot of energy and we were coming off the back of a tough game in midweek. It was always going to be a really difficult game for us.
‘We probably matched them for fitness in the last five minutes because we kept the ball and moved it. We took their legs from them and they never created a great deal.’
It is a time for all hands to the pump and Mikael Lustig certainly rose the occasion yesterday with Celtic’s opening two goals. The Swede played up to the supporters too — performing a piano-playing mime related to a popular video on Twitter — and even reviewed his rather odd celebrations in the dressing-room afterwards.
‘He’s always a threat and he makes good runs in the box,’ said Gordon.
‘The celebrations were good as well. He was watching them back in the changing room.
‘He loves scoring goals and he can do the crazy celebrations if he keeps sticking the ball in the net.’
He’s a big-game player and we need him fit and at that level