Rodgers must lose the 6/10 Celtic star immediately

And breathe. It was all quite disturbing, wasn’t it? You’ll have to go a long way to find a better finale than that this season, but Celtic they are jubilee winners again, having won the League Cup.

It was a frantic affair at Hampden with the game going back and forth with both sides trailing and both sides holding the lead at some point.

It started disastrously for Celtic against their Old Firm rivals with Nadim Bajrami finding the back of the net but Greg Taylor and Daizen Maeda gave Brendan Rodgers’ side hope in the second half.

But, but… carnage in the last quarter of the game. Mohamed Diomande equalized with 15 minutes to go for Rangers before Hoops winger Nicolas Kuhn looked set to make it three games to go. Just a few minutes later, Danilo appeared and sent the game into overtime.

Nothing could separate the two teams at the end of 90 minutes and nothing could separate them at the end of extra time. However, what separated them was the disappearance of Ridvan Yilmaz.

A jubilant Celtic side won the epic final 5-4 on penalties and it certainly wasn’t easy, as left-back Taylor will surely testify.

Greg Taylor’s performance in numbers

What a roller-coaster afternoon it was for the left-back in a real villain-hero performance at Hampden.

With the emergence of Alex Vale this season, the Scots playing time in a Hoops shirt has decreased somewhat and in his first-half performance in the cup final, it was clear why he wasn’t playing every 90 minutes.

In the words of Martin Dowden on BBC Sportit was a “nonsensical moment” from the defender that led to Rangers opening the scoring.

Taylor attempted a simple ball to Cameron Carter-Vickers but Bajrami intercepted it and then raced towards goal before playing it to Hamza Igamane. His effort was initially denied by Kasper Schmeichel, but Bajrami was there in the follow-up and scored an easy finish.

Fortunately for the Bhoise, the Scotland international made amends for his disastrous second-half mistake by scoring an own goal.

Kuhn’s corner came to the full-back on the edge of the box before he headed over a rather powerful deflection off the outstretched leg of Nicholas Ruskin.

So with that moment of luck, it was certainly hard to argue that Taylor was the green and white’s worst player on Sunday. Instead, that honor should probably go to the midfielder Reo Hatate.

Reo Hatate’s performance against Rangers

The Japanese star can be a really wonderful player to watch in his day, esp scored nine goals and assisted 11 during the 2022/23 campaign.

The 2023/24 season has been plagued by injuries and this term, he still seems to be struggling to get up to speed when you consider his performance against Rangers on Sunday.

After Daizen Maeda put Celts 2-1 up in the second half, Neil Lennon shouted the comment that big moments call for big players and while one Japanese sensation found form at a crucial moment, his compatriot in Hatate really fell short. business in the center of the park.

He was particularly guilty of assigning possession on a very regular basis and was subsequently served with a Player Rating 6/10 by Daily Record who noted that he ‘struggled to exert himself’ in the competition.

Auston Trusty was withdrawn at half-time, but in truth, Hatate should not have returned in the second half either.

The 27-year-old set the tone for a poor performance with what he did with just five minutes on the clock. Cup final nerves? Maybe. Either way, it wasn’t the class and quality we expect from a midfielder who was given the ball by the aforementioned Taylor but let it go under his feet and straight out of play.

It is typical of his game and indeed Celtic’s first half. They were much better in the second 45 minutes, but Hatate did little to spur his team on and will be happy to start the next game with Arne Engels – who set up Kuhn’s goal – waiting in the wings.

At least he found the net from the penalty spot, but the Hoops will be counting their lucky stars that Hatate’s overall performance hasn’t come back to bite them this evening. They will leave again as trophy winners.