With the close season now in full swing, the Celtic fans’ full attention will now be on watching their heroes continue their stories with their national teams this summer.
With Euro 2024 kicking off in Germany in just over two weeks’ time, the Celtic support can look forward to watching their Callum McGregor and Matt O’Riley represent Scotland and Denmark with the possibility of Greg Taylor, Anthony Ralston and James Forrest all taking part.
On top of that, there are also international friendlies involving the Republic of Ireland, Norway, Sweden and Portugal where the Celtic fans could also catch glimpses of Adam Idah and Liam Scales and possibly Odin Thiago Holm, Gustaf Lagerbielke and Paulo Bernardo.
But for other national associations, qualification for the 2026 World Cup begins this summer and one Celtic hero has been called up to kick off his country’s bid to reach the biggest competition in world football.
Luis Palma gets international call
Luis Palma joined Celtic last summer in a £3.5m deal from the Greek side Aris and made an almost instant impact at the start of his Hoops career.
Palma was one of the first names on the team sheet in the first half of the season but since January, the Honduran’s form has taken a dramatic dip.
However, despite that, Palma has been called up to the Honduran national team for their upcoming World Cup qualifiers against Cuba and Bermuda on the 7th and 9th of June respectively.
With ten goals and ten assists for the season, Palma’s overall contribution to Celtic’s successes this season has been very good.
Two goals in the Champions League group stages and important goals in the first half of the season against Motherwell and Kilmarnock put Palma’s name in lights as he enjoyed a sparkling first four months in the Hoops.
However, since January, his goals and assists dried up as did his starts for Celtic as Palma’s ‘inconsistent‘ form frustrated the fans.
Since scoring in the Boxing Day 3-0 away win at Dundee, Palma has netted just two goals in the league, albeit one was the Trophy Day winner against St Mirren, and created none but seems to have done enough to merit being included in Reinaldo Rueda’s international plans.