RARING TO ‘GO
Bhoys bouncing into cup final with Furuhashi injury cleared up
ANGE POSTECOGLOU has no doubt about Kyogo Furuhashi’s fitness for Hampden despite the Celtic forward only playing 20 minutes yesterday.
Furuhashi showed no ill effects from the shoulder injury that forced him off the previous weekend after he came on in the 71st minute.
Celtic maintained their nine-point lead over Rangers in the cinch Premiership ahead of taking on their rivals in the Viaplay Cup final next weekend.
Postecoglou joked he had no choice but to put the Japanese forward on. The Celtic manager said: “John Kennedy kept telling me: ‘Look, he is getting really angry, you better put him on’. So I didn’t have much choice. I thought he was going to sneak on at one point.
“I just thought before the game it was good chance to get Oh (Hyeon-gyu) some minutes.
“Kyogo (inset) has been outstanding in recent times and it was going to be hard for us to find a game for Oh with the fact we are only playing a game a week at the moment. But Kyogo is fine, he is raring to go and looking forward to next week now.”
Aaron Mooy was a surprise absentee alongside David Turnbull but Postecoglou is anticipating a full squad for next Sunday’s showpiece.
“Az just pulled up a bit sore in training (on Friday),” said
Postecoglou. “He has played a lot for us recently, and I was pretty keen to give (Tomoki) Iwata some game time too.
“Talking to the medical team, both him and Turnbull should be training Tuesday and Wednesday when we are in and should be right for the final.”
Reo Hatate was the star of the show, netting in each half after impressive skill, after Callum Mcgregor sent Celtic on their way in the second minute. Substitute Liel Abada rounded off the scoring with an excellent finish in the 89th minute.
Postecoglou said: “First half I thought we were excellent. The tempo, quality and intensity of our football was outstanding and we scored a couple of good goals and could have had a few more.
“Fifteen to 20 minutes of the second half were a grind but again the guys coming on gave us the energy we needed and we finished strong.
“Reo wants to be the best footballer he can be. He wants to improve and he is not going to settle for where he is at.
“Every day he comes in wanting to be a little bit better and he pushes himself to the absolute limits and he consistently asks us to give him the feedback he needs to be the best he can.
“He is reaping the rewards and I have no doubt there is more to come from him because that’s his mindset.” SPL TABLE: SEE PULLOUT