TOMAS CVANCARA has six games to prove he is worth a permanent deal at Celtic.
The champions have an option to buy the on-loan striker from Borussia Monchengladbach after his loan arrival in January.
Cvancara scored the decisive penalty-kick in the Scottish Cup quarter-final shoot-out against Danny Rohl’s side at Ibrox last month, but didn’t feature in Martin O’Neill’s matchday squad for the 6-2 last-four win over St Mirren at the weekend.
Daizen Maeda started up front before switching to the left wing to accommodate Kelechi Iheanacho who came off the substitutes’ bench to claim a double in the thrilling extra-time period.
HOOP HOOP HOORAY…Tomas Cvancara salutes the fans after scoring his first Celtic goal in the 2-0 win over Falkirk at Parkhead in February.
The rarely-seen Junior Adamu, also on a temporary transfer from Freiburg, was given the nod for a place in the stand-by squad ahead of Cvancara.
Interim boss O’Neill, speaking to the Scottish Sun, explained: “We did a bit of rotating for the semi-final. It wasn’t phenomenal rotating, but I felt Junior had trained really, really strongly.
“So, that’s it. Listen, people have to fight for positions in the team.”
Czech Republic international frontman Cvancara, who cost the Bundesliga club £9.2million when he joined from Sparta Prague in July 2023, has netted just twice for the Hoops in regulation time since he was recruited, one a spot-kick in the 3-1 triumph over Motherwell last month.
His other strike came in the 2-0 victory over Falkirk at the beginning of February.
The Hoops are due to play John McGlynn’s team at Parkhead on Saturday evening and the beanpole frontman will be hoping to be involved.
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