CELTIC embarked upon a stunning TWENTY-EIGHT game unbeaten league run after being given a wake-up call by St Mirren last season.
Ange Postecoglou’s men delivered their worst performance of the campaign as they nosedived to a shocking 2-0 defeat against Stephen Robinson’s team in Paisley on September 18 2022.
It was the Greek-Australian gaffer’s first Premiership loss since the 1-0 reverse against Livingston in West Lothian on September 19 the previous year.
PRIZE GUY…Kyogo Furuhashi steers the ball wide of Ibrox keeper Allan McGregor for the first of his double in Celtic’s 2-1 win in the Viaplay League Cup Final at Hampden in February.
PRIZE GUYS…two-goal Kyogo Furuhashi shows off the Viaplay League Cup with his Japanese countrymen Reo Hatate, Daizen Maeda, Tomoki Iwata and Yuki Kobayashi.
The dreadful display accompanied by an awful result proved to be the turning point for Postecoglou and his players as they set off in pursuit of a second successive title, the club’s eleventh in 12 seasons.
Following the unexpected plummet in Paisley, the Hoops won TWELVE games in a row all the way to the until the curtain came down on 2022 – Motherwell (2-1 twice home and away), St Johnstone (2-1, 4-1), Hibs (6-1, 4-0), Hearts (4-3), Livingston (3-0, 2-1), Dundee United (4-2), Ross County (2-1) and Aberdeen (1-0).
The triumphant sequence was brought to a halt at Ibrox in a 2-2 stalemate on January 2 2023, but that result sparked another victorious run of TWELVE matches – Kilmarnock (2-1, 4-1), St Mirren (4-0, 5-1), Dundee United (2-0), Livingston (3-0), St Johnstone (4-1), Aberdeen (4-0), Hearts (3-1), Hibs (3-1), Ross County (2-0) and Rangers (3-2).
PRIZE GUY…Kyogo Furuhashi fires in the opening goal past Hearts keeper Zander Clark on Celtic’s way to a 2-0 victory at Tynecastle to clinch a 53rd title.
PRIZE GUYS…Kyogo Furuhashi holds aloft the Premiership trophy as the champions celebrate a final-day 5-0 success over Aberdeen at Parkhead on May 27.
In the midst of the points-gathering, two goals from Kyogo Furuhashi gave the Hoops the League Cup in a 2-1 win over Ibrox opposition at Hampden on February 26.
A 1-1 draw with Motherwell at Parkhead on April 22 halted the league progression, but, after overcoming Michael Beale’s Ibrox side 1-0 in the Scottish Cup semi-final with an exquisite header from Filipe Jota, the crown was claimed at Tynecastle when strikes from Kyogo and Oh Hyeon-gyu downed Hearts 2-0 on May 7.
It was also the Parkhead club’s 53rd championship in their glorious history.
PRIZE GUY…Kyogo Furuhashi thumps in the Scottish Cup Final opener past Inverness Caley Thistle keeper Mark Ridgers at Hampden on June 3.
PRIZE GUYS…Callum McGregor and his triumphant Celtic team-mates celebrate the 3-1 Scottish Cup Final win to make world history with their eighth domestic treble.
The curtain came down on another exceptional crusade when Celtic enjoyed a 5-0 romp against Aberdeen at Parkhead on May 27 and claimed a world record eighth domestic treble by beating Inverness Caley Thistle 3-1 in the Scottish Cup Final at a sun kissed Hampden on June 3.
That was one helluva wake-up call in Paisley nine months earlier!
* DON’T miss the unbeatable match report from Celtic v St Mirren this evening – only in your champion CQN.
