CELTIC 6 ABERDEEN 0
A DAZZLING display by Yang Hyun-jun bamboozled Aberdeen and banished the Champions League hangover following the Madrid loss.
A six-goal collapse in midweek was marvellously transformed into a six-goal celebration four days later as the Hoops ran amok against the Pittodrie visitors at Parkhead this afternoon.
South Korean Yang was given his opportunity to impress Brendan Rodgers as he got the nod to take over from the injured Daizen Maeda.
The winger, a summer recruit, didn’t disappoint as he went through his eye-catching repertoire for just over an hour against a Dons team forced onto the backfoot right from the kick-off.
The entertaining raider was forced to leave the field in the 66th minute with a cut under his left eye after an accidental clash of heads with Jack MacKenzie, but by that time the relentless home side were coasting to the win that restored their eight-point advantage at the Premiership pinnacle.
HOOP HOOP HOORAY…goalscorer Yang Hyun-jun is congratulated by Matt O’Riley with Odin Holm about to join in during the six-goal romp against Aberdeen.
Kyogo Furuhashi was also led off earlier in the second-half after taking a sore one from rugged defender Slobodan Rubezic whose challenge was more of an assault than anything else.
The fans’ favourite was hammered to the ground after the centre-back’s aggressive attack that earned him a booking from referee Willie Collum. He can count himself lucky it wasn’t a straight red card.
Kyogo was replaced by Oh Hyeon-gyu in the 53rd minute and the South Korean thumped in two stoppage time goals to add to the earlier efforts.
A 6-0 result on this occasion was a lot more welcome than the 6-0 scoreline in midweek!
Yang had been outstanding before his enforced removal, but there were also marvellous performances from Matt O’Riley and Luis Palma to have their manager purring – and the fans applauding.
The hosts dominated to the extent Cameron Carter-Vickers spent more time in enemy territory than he did in his own half. Poor Bojan Miovski cut a forlorn figure on his own up front for Barry Robson’s side.
NUMBER ONE…Yang Hyun-jun thunders in the opening goal as he meets a cross from the left.
It took Yang, making his fifth Premiership appearance, just nine minutes to score his first Celtic goal and it came after a breathtaking move that shredded the retreating visitors’ rearguard before the wily winger buried his effort deep into the net.
Callum McGregor played a one-two with Greg Taylor before rolling a pass inside to Carter-Vickers who switched play back to defensive sidekick Liam Scales.
The Republic of Ireland defender set Palma away on the left and the Honduran swept past a tackle from Nicky Devlin on his way to the bye-line. He disguised a cross, took another touch and then sizzled over a cross that eliminated keeper Kelle Roos at his near post.
Yang was right in line to apply the killer touch as he bulleted a header bang on target.
Even this early in proceedings, Celtic more than deserved the lead. They should have opened the scoring in the third minute, but for an amazing miss from O’Riley.
Yang drifted in from the right past four defenders before stabbing a left-foot pass into the tracks of Kyogo who flashed a first-time drive at goal.
Roos reacted swiftly to push the ball to the side, but it went straight to the Hoops midfielder who looked certain to score his seventh goal of the season. Remarkably, he snatched at the ricochet and sent an effort waywardly past the upright.
NUMBER TWO…Kyogo Furuhashi swoops onto a pass from Matt O’Riley to double the advantage.
The champions doubled their lead in the 16th minute and O’Riley atoned for his earlier blunder as he whipped in an inviting cross from the right that was met by Kyogo from about three yards at the near post.
Roos didn’t even move as the ball zoomed into the net. Yang provided the pass to set the Danish international clear in the first place as he continued to torment the Dons.
The second-half kicked off with a smart save from Joe Hart who got down well to his right to snatch a close-range flick from Miovski in his only moment of danger.
In the 76th minute, Palma tucked away No.3 from the penalty spot after Oh had been tumbled by MacKenzie. Match official Collum was ordered by VAR assistant John Beaton to review the incident on the touchline monitor before returning to the field to point to the spot.
NUMBER THREE…Luis Palma makes no mistake from the penalty spot.
NUMBER FOUR…David Turnbull whips a low shot past keeper Kelle Roos.
NUMBER FIVE…a wink and a nod and is smiles better for Oh Hyeon-gyu.
NUMBER SIX…Oh rounds off the six-goal rout as he leaves the keeper helpless.
After two successive Premiership penalty misses from Reo Hatate and David Turnbull, Palma showed his team-mates how it’s done with a staccato run-up and whiplash drive high to Roos’ right into the rigging.
Two minutes later, Rodgers sent on Forrest and Alexandro Bernabei for Yang and Taylor and three minutes later Tomoki Iwata joined the action when he replaced skipper McGregor.
The Hoops then went into overdrive when 10 minutes of stoppage-time was announced and the Dons were utterly decimated with a three-goal burst.
Palma slipped a neat pass inside for Turnbull to lash in No.4 with a cunning right-foot 22-yard drive that completely foxed the keeper low at his right-hand post.
That came two minutes into added-on time and three minutes later Palma provided an exquisite cross from the left that was headed in by Oh from close range.
And the powerhouse frontman sealed a marvellous six-goal show when he raced through on a sublime pass from O’Riley to slide the ball under the exposed Roos.
It was the perfect end to an afternoon where the champions proved conclusively they could answer the critics who wondered if they could recover from the Madrid mauling.
TEAM: Hart; Johnston, Carter-Vickers, Scales, Taylor (sub: Bernabei) ; Holm (sub: Turnbull 53), McGregor (sub: Iwata 81), O’Riley; Yang (sub: Forrest 78), Kyogo (sub: Oh 53), Palma.
