Celtic land major injury boost ahead of Rangers as VAR and referee problems flagged up after missed penalty
Celtic’s in-form man went hobbling off the park against Hibs but should be available for the Rangers clash
Celtic boss Martin O’Neill confirmed Daizen Maeda is available for Sunday’s Rangers clash - a crucial match he hopes isn’t defined by VAR decisions.
The in-form Japanese striker is hitting form at just the right time in the title race, with six goal contributions in his last three. However, after Celtic’s 2-1 win at Hibs last weekend, Maeda was seen limping off, giving the Parkhead faithful a heart-in-mouth moment ahead of the Old Firm clash. Celtic remain three points behind league leaders Hearts, who play on Motherwell on Saturday night.
Despite the Hoops victory, O’Neill wasn’t happy with some of the decisions made at Easter Road last week. For Maeda’s opener, the linesman had trailed behind play but still adjudged him to be offside, meaning the goal wouldn’t have stood if it weren’t for VAR intervention. Celtic also feel they should’ve been awarded a penalty when midfielder Benjamin Nygren was man-handled by Hibs’ Josh Campbell in the box as he pushed him out of play when attempting to shield the ball out.
Celtic boss issues positive injury verdict on star man
Speaking in his press conference ahead of the Rangers clash, O’Neill said: “Daizen (Maeda), he hurt himself towards the end of the Hibs game but he's fine. It’s really, really, really good news. So, yes, he's trained today. He's had no bad reaction and so he's going to be fine. In recent weeks, he's got us goals from pressing and has scored important goals for us in matches.”
Celtic’s Duracell Bunny has looked back to his best in recent weeks after a season of inconsistency. While his endless work-rate off the ball has never been under scrutiny, at times his composure in front of goal has, but with three games to go, as his numbers improve, it would’ve been a massive blow to lose their talisman. Despite this, he’s yet to trouble the scoresheet against their bitter rivals so far this season and will be looking to rectify that on Sunday.
O’Neill hopes VAR failings don’t resurface for Glasgow grudge match
The veteran boss is looking to forward to being in the Celtic Park dugout against Rangers for the first time in over 20 years at the weekend. However, one thing he doesn’t want is a repeat of some officiating errors against Hibs. To add to the opening goal and penalty incidents, Hibs’ only goal of the game also was very dubious as the ball appeared to hit captain Joe Newell’s hand before he struck it home. The hosts had to play the majority of the game with 10-men after Jamie McGrath’s early sending off for a high challenge on Alistair Johnston.
O’Neill continued: “I've not tried to analyse that much about it (Hibs game). We've got over the line. We had our difficulties on last week. Well, we certainly had a bit of a problem with VAR. We had a bit of a problem with a few decisions. Particularly the first goal that we got, where the linesman was about four yards off the pace of the game, but still wanted a flag for offside. And of course, we should have had a penalty when the fellow (Nygren) was just pushed off the pitch. But I think that an Old Firm game looks after itself, I hope.”
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