Celtic played out a goalless draw against Everton in the Sydney Super Cup, before losing on penalties. It was a decent performance from the Hoops, who dominated the Premier League opposition in several areas, while Frank Lampard’s team seemed happy enough to sit back and play on the counter-attack.
The match did not really have the feeling you would normally associate with a friendly away in Australia. The intensity, sharpness and aggression at times was much higher. Without doubt a result of it being played in the middle of the season instead of before it.
Everton did not seem shy when it came to making strong challenges either, with one of them being on Matt O’Riley from Isaac Price.
In fact, O’Riley did not seem happy with the challenge and believes he could have ended up suffering a broken leg on another day and was lucky to come out without a serious problem. As reported by the Daily Record, he said:
"“I got lucky. I’m not even sure he got booked, I don’t think he did. It was on my knee. I got quite a big mark from it.“I had a word with the referee. He was trying to explain it to me but I didn’t really understand. On another day I get my leg broken. I didn’t get a fright but at the same time when I watched it back I realised I got lucky. It was high, it was just above my shin.”"
Celtic star makes scary claim about friendly vs Everton
It is safe to say that it would be a huge blow for Celtic if O’Riley ends up suffering any kind of injury. He has been one of the key players of this team this season.
O’Riley’s rise since joining Celtic has been meteoric to say the least. Many had questioned whether he was good enough when he was signed in January from MK Dons.
Those claims were not unexpected either, considering O’Riley was playing third division football in England. But he has not taken long to prove his quality in a Celtic shirt and is now a regular starter at Parkhead.
There seems to be a lot of interest in his signature as well, with clubs like Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool, Leicester City, Borussia Dortmund, Newcastle United and others being linked with the Danish youth international in recent times.