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Celtic captain Callum McGregor has praised Kelechi Iheanacho after the Nigeria international scored the winning goal in Wednesday night’s 3-2 victory over Motherwell at Fir Park.
With the game heading towards a draw, the Hoops were awarded a penalty for handball deep into stoppage time following a VAR review.
Iheanacho coolly dispatched his spot-kick in to the bottom corner sparking wild celebrations in the away stand.
It was the forward’s eighth goal across all competitions for Martin O’Neill’s side this season.
Read Also:SPL: Iheanacho’s Dramatic Late Penalty Earns Celtic 3-2 Win At Motherwell, Keep Title Hopes Alive
McGregor Hails Big Player Iheanacho
McGregor described Iheanacho as a big personality with a proven ability to score crucial goals.
“Obviously you do the maths around what we would have had to do at the weekend, but credit to him (Iheanacho),” McGregor told Celtic TV.
‘He’s a big personality, a big player who steps up in the big moments and gets us over the line. Now it’s in our own hands.
“I thought it was a good game. Motherwell started well and then I thought we got control when we scored, but it was a game which ebbed and flowed.”
The Hoops will now turn their attention to Saturday’s decisive final league clash against Hearts at Celtic Park, with the title set to be decided in a winner-takes-all encounter.
By Adeboye Amosu
6 Comments
If we had this Iheanacho for the world cup play-offs against Dr Congo,just maybe we would have scaled through.
After Osimhens injury,leading to his first half substitution,a well rounded and experienced striker like Nacho would have stepped in and do a job.His skillset and shooting ability may have got us what we needed to move to the next stage,even against the likes of Morocco,it was obvious we needed something different to nick it.
Fit Nacho obviously would have made a difference.
From the look of things,his days with the national team may not be over!Sad news for a few who thinks his career is over with the super eagles,i know it’s frustrating,you may have to wait a little longer,sadly!!
No, we are not sad. Those close to 30 have one more afcon (one year from now) to shine and bow out.
“New boys” should play the 2028 edition.
It’s their last dance in the national team.
29 years, he is.
We are bidding time lol
I quite agree with you. One of the reasons we lost the WC ticket was because we had no lethal capable substitute or complement to Osimhen. Lookman and Akor are great at their roles with varying threat styles as supporting strikers, but all the tried direct No 9 substitutes, from Boniface to Onuachu, Sadiq, and Awoniyi, were all subpar.
By contrast, some of SE’s most memorable goals have been by Nacho. Not sure any of the current SE player pack such ferocious bullets in their boot as Kel’s left leg. Free kicks? He’s still king. When was the last time Nigeria scored from one? Today, we waste 85% of set pieces.
Iheanacho may not be as fast as before, but is there any younger, capable replacement with a similar style in sight?
Sentiments apart, Iheanacho has not done enough to earn invitation to the national team. Scoring a penalty and playing from the bench in the scottish league is not just enough!
On what yardstick should heanacho be considered for invitation ?
Can he displace any of Osi9, Akor, and Lookman in the current attack ? Is he performing better than alternatives like Sodiq, Awoniyi, and Onuachu who are delivering goals in much better Leagues ?
There are upcoming attacking left footed players who have proven themselves this season like. Zadok and Azeez.
There is no need to recycle overhyped players who could not deliver WCQ on two consecutive occasions.
A serious football federation and coach would have known discovered that only 13-15 of the old players in the last AFCON are worthy of invitation. The remaining slots should be used to integrate new players with the much needed discipline, capacity and skill set to excel.
You may as well,include Awoniyi and Onuachu on the list of players who failed to shine thereby thwarting our world cup qualification.
However,all of these players you mentioned would still sneak into the super eagles,should they up their game with good numbers in a respectable league.
I understand the clamour for young players into the team especially after a back to back world cup qualification failure,but you will understand the NFF played a significant role in our failure to qualify for the world cup on both occasion.
First,the bad timing of the sack of Gernot Rohr cost us the first time.The second failed attempt was as a result of tight NFF chairman who was looking to execute the qualifiers by using cheap coaches that’ll save his organisation money,but instead,shot himself in the foot.
On realising we were on the verge of not qualifying,only then he desperately released funds for the hire of Chelle.
The new gaffers performances after a few games only proved that,had he started from the get-go,we would have sealed qualification for the world cup with games to spare,even with the same players,a prove that the players weren’t the problem,but the football authorities!
hahaha jokes of the day! yuh pipo don’t urrastand wat is footbal, iheanachuo dey playing for well oil and coach team, a propa teams wey be sey dem result be true reflectionate of wetin be greater dan a sum of de parts, buh if yuh put nacho in a team dat is sufring from other problems like SE den hin ees a bigest laibilty, so e be like sey wunu needs arrastand wetin footbal team effect and de game of footbal meant bcos yuh see say iheanacho score 1 or 2 goal den yuh blive sey na hin SE needed nor mek any sense at al. wunu needed to tinks wella b4 dropping coment abeg. mek it made sense na bros kai!