Celtic got themselves back on track following the 6-0 defeat at the hands of Atletico Madrid away at the Metropolitano Stadium, by winning with the same scoreline against Aberdeen. Oh Hyeon-gyu got himself a brace while Kyogo Furuhashi, Luis Palma, David Turnbull and Yang Hyun-jun scored once each.
Palma converted his chance from the spot and one would feel that he has to remain the club’s regular penalty taker moving forward. The Honduran international has a spotless record from penalties throughout his senior career.
On the other hand, Celtic have struggled to find someone who can take the role of their regular penalty taker since Josip Juranovic left earlier this year. We have seen both David Turnbull and Reo Hatate miss from the spot this season already.
Of course, the Rangers received two penalties earlier in the day in their game against Livingston. And interestingly, Brendan Rodgers appeared to take a cheeky dig after Celtic’s win over Aberdeen.
Rodgers takes cheeky dig after Celtic win
As reported by The Herald, Rodgers said:
"“Penalties are very important. Especially up here. So when you get them you want to finish them.”"
Without a doubt, it is a factual statement. And one would hope that Celtic improve their record from the spot moving forward. Let’s see if Palma can continue to convert from penalties if given the regular role.
There is a lot more to this Celtic team than just the ability to score penalties though. We saw some beautiful goals against Aberdeen. It has been somewhat of an inconsistent season for them so far. But hopefully, they will start performing at their best regularly moving forward from here.
The good news is that players like Matt O’Riley, Luis Palma, Liam Scales and a few more are putting in good performances on a consistent basis. Yet, it feels like Celtic have not gotten out of second gear very often in this campaign. Hopefully, that will happen once most of the players are fit and available.