Celtic head coach Brendan Rodgers will surely be pleased with his team’s impressive start to the 2024/25 campaign across all competitions this term.
The Scottish giants endured a frustrating first half of his first season back in charge at Parkhead, as they finished bottom of their Champions League group with one win and were knocked out of the League Cup by Kilmarnock in August.
This time, the Hoops have already secured their place in the final of the League Cup, as they face Rangers at Hampden Park next month, and have won two of their four matches in the new-look Champions League format.
The Hoops are also sat at the top of the Scottish Premiership table after 11 matches, with ten wins and one draw, with Aberdeen behind them on goal difference, and the Gers a whopping nine points behind the top two.
Rodgers will now be hoping that players come back on the other side of the international break fully fit and able to kick on and continue to impress across all competitions.
Celtic's international performers
On Thursday, Arne Engels made his full debut for Belgium, in his second cap, with a start in their 1-0 defeat to Italy. The central midfielder struggled in the match, as he lost 100% of his duels and only completed 71% of his attempted passes.
Japan beat Indonesia 4-0 on Friday and two of the Celtic’s three players in the squad featured in that win, as Reo Hatate and Daizen Maeda both came off the bench in the second half.
Kyogo Furuhashi was an unused substitute for his country, whilst his two teammates had little impact during their time on the pitch – combining for one chance created and one duel won in a combined 56 minutes of action.
Scotland also played and won on Friday. They beat Croatia 1-0 and Anthony Ralston played the full 90 minutes, winning three of his five duels, whilst Greg Taylor was an unused substitute and Callum McGregor got to enjoy the game as a fan after his retirement from international football.
Another Celtic player who impressed in a clean sheet for his country on Friday was central defender Liam Scales, who won six of his seven duels in a 1-0 win for Ireland over Finland, which shows that he was incredibly dominant at the heart of the Irish defence.
Alistair Johnston struggled at times for Canada, as he lost four of his six duels, but his side still came out on top with a 1-0 win over Suriname, so it was a successful evening in the end for the right-back.
There is one rarely-seen Celtic player, however, whose performance for his country may mean that Rodgers can no longer ignore him after the break, after a difficult start to the season.
Luis Palma's heroics for Honduras
Honduras hosted Mexico in the quarter-final of the CONCACAF Nations League on Friday night/Saturday morning in Glasgow and Luis Palma was not initially selected to start the game.
That may be due to his lack of minutes on the pitch in Scotland this season, with one league start, as he has failed to break into the Hoops team on a regular basis.
With 63 minutes on the block, Honduras and Mexico were holding each other to a 0-0 draw and heading towards extra-time in the last eight clash, before Palma was substituted on at that time.
The rarely-seen Hoops dynamo made an instant impact in the 64th minute by reacting first to a save from Guillermo Ochoa to slot the ball into the back of the net to make it 1-0.
As you can see in the clip above, his second was even more impressive as, after Mexico pushed for an equaliser, the Celtic star cut in from the left flank and beautifully found the bottom corner with a brilliantly composed finish from the edge of the box.
In his 27 minutes on the pitch, Palma scored two goals from three shots, finding the net with both of his shots on target, and won two of his four duels, to earn a Sofascore rating of 8.4.
He was the hero of the night for his country to secure their place in the semi-finals of the Nations League, and Rodgers must now consider unleashing him in the Premiership.
Why Luis Palma should be unleashed
The 24-year-old gem has only featured in four of the club’s league games, starting one, so far this season, and has caught the eye when called upon.
In his only start in the Premiership this term, Palma provided four key passes and created one ‘big chance’ for his teammates in just 57 minutes of action against Dundee.
Daizen Maeda, who has been starting ahead of him on the left flank, has provided two assists and averaged 1.1 key passes per game across 11 appearances in the top-flight, which suggests that the Honduras international could offer more than him from a creative perspective.
Palma joined Celtic from Greek side Aris in the summer of 2023 and the right-footed magician enjoyed a solid first season at Parkhead, and a particularly impressive first six months at the club.
The Hoops may have thought they had their next superstar on their hands after a return of five goals and nine assists in 16 appearances in the Premiership in 2023 from the winger.
Appearances
28
Goals
7
Big chances missed
8
Assists
9
Big chances created
14
As you can see in the table above, Palma managed two goals and zero assists in 12 games during the second half of that season, which shows that he failed to build on his fantastic start to life in Glasgow.
His struggles throughout 2024 have been frustrating because his first six months at Celtic show that the quality is there for him to be a star for Rodgers.
His international heroics for Honduras must now be enough for the manager to stop ignoring the rarely-seen star and offer him more chances to rebuild his confidence on the pitch for the Hoops after the break.
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