Celtic emerged from Ibrox yesterday with a 3-3 draw that hasn’t harmed our title-winning prospects as the season run-in continues.
As we all know by now, Daizen Maeda opened the scoring after just 21 seconds at the home of our bitter rivals, putting James Tavernier under severe pressure before the ball diverted off the Japanese attacker to give the visitors the advantage.
Matt O’Riley doubled our lead with an excellent effort from the spot; however, Tavernier and Abdallah Sima brought the hosts level in the second half.
Queue the late excitement with Adam Idah latching on to some expert ingenuity from Paulo Bernardo, which led to the Irishman slamming low past Jack Butland in the 87th minute.
Unfortunately, Celtic weren’t able to hold out courtesy of a whipped strike from Rabbi Matondo in stoppage time, as the Welshman sidestepped Hyunjun Yang’s efforts to reclaim possession.
In the cold light of day, there has been a mixture of pride and frustration from the Hoops’ support at the result; nevertheless, the bigger picture is that Celtic still have a fighting chance of winning a third successive Scottish Premiership title.
Micah Richards comments on Hyunjun Yang defending
Whether warranted or not, Celtic substitute Yang has been the subject of attention due to his defending before Matondo’s equalising goal in stoppage time.
Intriguingly, former Manchester City defender Micah Richards has weight in on the debate, claiming that he was ‘screaming’ at the South Korean’s positional error that led to what was admittedly an unstoppable strike.
Speaking on The Rest is Football podcast, Richards stated: “When Matondo got the ball, I’m screaming. I’m screaming at the defender to just show him wide.
“I’m coming back from London, watching it on Sky Go, and I’m thinking: ‘Oh, the game’s done here,’ then ‘what are you doing? You’re showing him the wrong way!’
“When he hit it, I just knew it was going in the back of the net. It was an incredible finish.”
Despite the frustration at Yang’s role, we shouldn’t pile on the 21-year-old, who has made great strides in the last few months following a period of acclimatisation to life at Parkhead.
Hopefully, Celtic can now collectively rally for the last six league matches, including a showdown against Rangers at home, with six victories from six enough to guarantee the Bhoys another title.