FIGHTING ON ALL FRONTS: ACSOM'S CELTIC SEASON REVIEW PART 3
- BY LIAM CARRIGAN
- 1 day ago
- 8 min read
ACSOM's Liam McBride continues his month-by-month review of the Celtic season 2024/25. Today we move into the new year, which saw European progress but all wasn't well at home.
Celtic Season Hits High Intensity as Games Come Thick and Fast
It’s time to remember the third quarter of the 2024/25 season, with a packed January and February schedule present. From an Ibrox no-show to a topsy-turvy Champions League tie against Bayern Munich, the football flew in thick and fast.
January
Celtic began 2025 in the worst possible way: a defeat to Rangers. To a certain extent, you could argue it was only a matter of time. Brendan Rodgers' men were unbeaten in their last six derbies and had lost just one of their last fourteen. The nature of the performance though, was unexpected. It was a truly calamitous display that provoked a three-nil defeat.
Heading into the tie fourteen point ahead and still domestically unbeaten, Celtic were heavy favourites. However, the Champions conceded an early goal, with a slack piece of play from Liam Scales gifting the ball to Nico Raskin.
The Rangers midfielder was then able to dribble forward with little pressure and layed off Hagi. To give the Romanian credit, his goal was a wonderful strike and set the Ibrox crowd into a frenzy. Yet, the lack of defensive effort from Callum McGregor and Reo Hatate was a sign of what was to occur throughout the afternoon.
Celtic struggled, with Alistair Johnson failing to get forward the way he usually does, meanwhile, Liam Scales produced one of the poorest in-possession performances you are likely to see in a game of this magnitude. The 26-year-old frequently passed the ball out of the park when trying to find an unmarked Taylor.
Rangers were quick on the counter and deserved credit for that, but truthfully this was Celtic’s doing. The home side was able to sit off and block the middle, and the league leader’s poor passing gifted them opportunities to punish.
The bitter after-taste of a derby defeat linger; a feeling this Celtic side hasn’t learned to experience much in recent times. In the following days, rumours began to linger about a sensational return for Kieran Tierney. Although, Mikel Arteta was adamant that the Scot was going nowhere before the end of the season.
Either way, by the time Celtic returned to the field against St Mirren, Rangers had already slipped up after Philippe Clement’s first derby win. In the earlier 12:30 kick off, a Rocky Bushiri late header salvaged a 3-3 draw for Hibees. Rather comically, just days after defeat, Celtic could go thirteen points ahead.
The Bhoys went on to win 3-0, yet the match proved to be a point of internal controversy. Celtic started poorly, with a lack of pace in their game, and groans followed from the stands. A Daizen Maeda breakaway goal, plus an Auston Trusty header put the Champions 2-0 to the good at halftime, and all was plain sailing.
Of course, with rumours around a potential return to Paradise for Tierney, an excited Green Brigade decided to sing his song during the second half. Afterwards, Rodgers reacted angrily stating it was a “total lack of respect” to Greg Taylor and made further comments on the groans,
“Teams are well-organised, teams are well set-up, you have to work the game. So sometimes you have to play a backward pass to change the point of attack. We make a backward pass, and then they get on to the players, and that’s why I was proud of the players.”
It seemed like the Hoops gaffer had made a whole lot out of nothing. The song-singing was obviously not a personal dig at Taylor. As for the groans, it was natural.
Either way, just days later Celtic returned to action with a comfortable 2-0 home victory over Dundee United, and thanks to Dundee holding out Rangers, extended their lead at the top to fifteen points. The Green Brigade responded comically to Rodgers' comments about Tierney’s song, by bringing out the old songbook.
Scott Sinclair, Moussa Dembele, Victor Wanyama, Arthur Boruc, Stuart Armstrong and of course, Jota all got a mention. The Portuguese winger’s song would be sung again in the coming weeks. In fairness to Rodgers he took it in great spirits joking that he thought the Kitman might get a mention.
A trip to the Highlands saw three late goals secure a 4-1 victory for the Champions. Kyogo finally broke his away day duck, with two important goals, while Johnny Kenny made his first appearance since returning on loan from Shamrock Rovers. It wasn’t Celtic’s best performance but they found a way to win.
Unfortunately, they weren’t able to repeat this feat just days later with a sloppy 3-3 draw away to Dundee. The manner of the home side’s third goal really frustrated Rodgers, who afterwards lamented the lack of physicality shown by Auston Trusty. If it wasn’t for a late Arne Engels penalty, Celtic would have left empty handed.
Next up was a three game break from league action. Firstly, Kilmarnock waited in the cup before back-to-back Champions League ties. Celtic brushed aside Kilmarnock, with the 2-1 scoreline flattering the visitors. Hatate and Kyogo both missed excellent chances, while McGregor and Maeda got on the scoresheet.
Celtic headed into the home tie against Young Boys knowing a victory would secure their first Champions League knockout tie since facing Juventus in 2013. It was also, unknowingly, Kyogo’s last ever match for Celtic.
The Japanese striker had the ball in the net three times in the first half, but remarkably saw all three goals (rightly) disallowed. To add to the frustration, Engels missed a penalty just before halftime. It was a dominant first half, and while the performance wavered after the break, they remained the better side.
Yet, Kasper Schmeichel was still called to make an excellent double save in the second half while the game was still level. With five minutes to go, Hatate produced the pass of the season to set Idah through on goal. The Irishman's shot took an unorthodox route into the net to say the least, but he didn’t care in the slightest and neither did the celebrating Celtic Park crowd.
The news broke just days after that Celtic would be completing a swap deal with Rennes between Kyogo and Jota. It left a mixed feeling amongst the fanbase, as although Kyogo hadn’t been performing to the same level as his Ange Postecoglou days, he remained an incredibly influential figure in the Celtic team.
While a Jota return excited, the general consensus was that a striker was still necessary. Alex Valle also returned to Barcelona, with Odin Thiago Holm heading to the States for the remainder of 2025.
Next up, with qualification already in the bag, Celtic headed down to Birmingham to face Unai Emery’s Aston Villa. Without a suspended Daizen Maeda, and Jota unregistered, Yang started on the left hand side. Celtic couldn’t have started worse, trailing by two goals after six minutes. Alistair Johnson then cleared an Ollie Watkins effort off the line, while another attempt hit the post and luckily bounced straight into Schmeichel’s arms.
However, the Celts did well to get themselves back into the game, with Idah registering two more goals in the Champions League to take his tally to four. More pleasingly, they were two excellent football goals, with the Scottish Champions able to play in behind the Villa defensive line and cut back across the face of goal.
In the second half, Villa would score two more goals, although there was no disgrace in that with the likes of Dane Murray and Daniel Cummings coming off the bench to get some minutes.
Deadline day approached, and despite calls for a striker, Celtic failed to bring in a Kyogo replacement. Daizen Maeda and Adam Idah formed the two options, with Johnny Kenny also in the frame. Tierney’s deal was put off till a pre-contract sign in the Summer while Jeffrey Schlupp joined on loan from Crystal Palace until the end of the season.
February
Celtic started the month of February with a 3-1 away win at Motherwell. Anthony Ralston was handed a start and showed terrific crossing quality to pick out Maeda for an early goal. Idah also kept his scoring run up with a clever one-touch finish.
The moment of the match without a doubt though had to be Jota scoring on his return to the green and white hoops. The 26-year-old was visibly emotional after a torrid spell in Saudi Arabia and subsequently France.
The Bhoys backed this up with 6-0 and 5-0 home wins against Dundee and Raith Rovers in the Scottish Cup before welcoming Bayern Munich to town. They were big games for Adam Idah, Daizen Maeda and Yang, who put in excellent performances, providing goals and assists aplenty.
Of course, it wasn’t representative of the quality of opposition they would face midweek, but confidence was brimming in the East End of Glasgow.
Nicolas Kuhn thought he had opened the scoring in the first minute but Adam Idah was judged to have been in an offside position. Celtic defended in a compact 4-4-2, and were comfortable out of possession, although Kompany’s Munich did seem to be trying to walk the ball into the net at times.
Two goals on either side of the break meant Celtic had an uphill battle. Although, the inspired substitutions of Jota and Yang and the reliable goal-scoring presence of Maeda gave Celtic a goal back, and they headed to the Allianz still in the tie.
Before that, they brushed aside Dundee United by three goals to nil, with Jota scoring his first goal at Celtic Park since returning.
Away in Bayern, Rodgers set up the team once more to play a 4-4-2 out of possession, with Maeda and Hatate tirelessly blocking the central passes for the Bayern centre-backs. In the first half, McGregor, Kuhn and Maeda all had wonderful chances to take the lead but had nothing to show at the break.
However, the pressure paid off in the second half, as the ever-hungry Daizen Maeda tracked down a loose ball and played through Kuhn to take the lead. From then on, the switch turned with the likes of Leroy Sane coming off the bench to inject more pace into the Bayern front line.
Celtic defended heroically but saw their hearts broken in the dying seconds with a Cameron Carter-Vickers clearance hitting off Alphonso Davies and trickling into the net. Celtic exited the European stage with their heads held high and plaudits across Europe, with the likes of the Totally Football Show and The Rest Is Football praising the performance.
However, Celtic had to dust themselves off and return to domestic action, with a Hibernian side unbeaten in thirteen awaiting. The first-half performance was extremely poor, with a Josh Campbell double putting the visitors two ahead.
It showed you what a funny game football could be, one minute you are leading against Bayern Munich, the next and Josh Campbell is causing your defence all sorts of issues. Maeda pulled a goal back but saw his equaliser bizarrely ruled out for the ball being out of play despite a lack of evidence that should have been necessary to overrule the on-field decision.
Not to worry though, Celtic rounded off February with a 5-1 demolition job over Aberdeen. It marked the first goal that Rodgers’s side had conceded at Celtic Park since the 2-2 reverse fixture in October.