Celtic player ratings vs Dundee United: Japanese duo make the difference + £11m ace oozes class in priceless win

Celtic took another huge step towards retaining the Scottish Premiership title as they opened up a handsome 16 points lead at the top of the table with a 2-0 victory over spirited Dundee United at Parkhead.

The Hoops looked on course for a routine win at half-time on a freezing night in Glasgow’s east end after Daizen Maeda’s opener after 23 minutes, but the visitors produced a much-improved second half display ans asked plenty of questions of Brendan Rodgers’ side.

The home side suffered a major blow before kick-off after in-form winger Nicolas Kuhn was replaced in the starting line-up by Yang Hyun-jun, despite taking part in the warm-up. Looking to avoid a repeat of their goalless draw at Tannadice just under three weeks ago, Rodgers opted to stick with the same team that coasted to victory over St Mirren at the weekend.

They dominated the early proceedings with Maeda sweeping home on the rebound after United keeper Jack Walton could only parry Luke McCowan’s initial shot into the Japanese winger’s path.

Jim Goodwin’s side were well organised and it took until Reo Hatate came off the bench for the hosts to double their lead in the closing stages. The midfielder rifled high into the roof of the net to wrap up three priceless points and maintain their unbeaten home record.

United’s best chance of the half fell to the league’s current top scorer Sam Dalby, but his effort on the turn was saved by Kasper Schmeichel, although it wouldn’t have counted after the towering frontman strayed a yard offside.

With temperatures dropping below minus 1, this game won’t live long in the memory of those who attended, but the win, more importantly, put further daylight between Celtic and closest challengers Rangers at the summit.

Here, we’ve rounded up each player’s match rating according to WhoScored - take a look below at how each of the Celtic stars fared.