Celtic's Scottish Cup hopes remain alive, but only just. On Saturday night, Parkhead was more than half empty for the visit of Dundee due to a fan boycott. Well, those in attendance were not happy either when, just after half-time, Ethan Hamilton's sublime strike had the Dark Blues on the cusp of a monumental upset.
Steven Pressley's side were still in front deep into added time when, with the final kick, Sebastian Tounekti danced his way through and squared the ball to Junior Adamu to flick home the equaliser, sparking wild celebrations. With Dundee now extremely deflated, Tounekti lashed home inside 100 seconds of extra time, as the record 42-times winners, just, snuck through 2-1.
The following night, straight after Falkirk's extra time victory over Stenhousemuir at Ochilview Park, the Celts were handed Rangers away in the quarter-finals of the Scottish Cup. This sets up a season-defining period of fixtures between now and that tie on 7/8 March.
Celtic next 8 fixtures
- Wednesday 11 February. Livingston (H) - Premiership.
- Sunday 15 February. Kilmarnock (A) - Premiership.
- Thursday 19 February. Stuttgart (H) - Europa League.
- Sunday 22 February. Hibernian (H) - Premiership.
- Thursday 26 February. Stuttgart (A) - Europa League.
- Sunday 1 March. Rangers (A) - Premiership.
- Wednesday 4 March. Aberdeen (A) - Premiership.
- Sat 7/Sun 8 March. Rangers (A) Scottish Cup.
In the next four weeks, Celtic face one season-defining match after another. By 8 March, they could realistically be out of the Europa League, out of the Scottish Cup and pretty much out of the Premiership title race, currently third. That is, if this period goes wrong, and to avoid that, they will need their six January signings to come to the fore. Well, one may have won over his new supporters on debut.
Junior Adamu's instant impact at Parkhead
During the winter transfer window, Celtic made six new additions to the squad. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain was presented to the sparse crowd on Saturday, while Julián Araujo and Tomáš Čvančara started against Dundee, with both Joel Mvuka and Junior Adamu debuting.
After scoring the last-gasp equaliser, Adamu stuck his tongue out in celebration, seemingly a tribute to Celtic's greatest-ever centre-forward, Henrik Larsson. That is one way to endear yourself to supporters straight away.
So, will the Austrian international be a success in Glasgow? Well, after bursting onto the scene at RB Salzburg, Adamu joined Freiburg for around €10 million in the summer of 2023. However, he has made very little impact for the Breisgau-Brasilianer, scoring just seven times in 67 outings for the club, his only goal of this campaign coming against Werder Bremen and then a penalty in Bologna.
Nevertheless, the 24-year-old is clearly talented and, with Austria having qualified for a first World Cup since '98, he'll be ultra-motivated to earn his place in Ralf Rangnick's squad. Alongside Oxlade-Chamberlain and Čvančara, Adamu could prove to be a game-changing signing, with massive matches coming thick and fast in the next month.