Yang Hyun-jun finally scored his Celtic debut. Oh Hyun-gyu also came on as a second-half substitute to complete a multi-goal performance.
Celtic defeated Aberdeen 6-0 in the 13th round of the 2023-24 Scottish Premiership at Celtic Park in Glasgow, Scotland, on Wednesday at 11:30 p.m. ET. The win extends Celtic’s unbeaten run through the opening 13 games (11 wins, 2 draws) and extends their lead at the top of the league (35 points).
Celtic deployed a 4-3-3 formation on the day. Palma, Furuhashi, and Yang lined up up front, while Holm, McGregor, and O’Reilly formed the midfield. The back four was Tyler, Scales, Carter-Vickers, and Johnstone, with Hart in goal. Oh was on the bench.
In response, Aberdeen brought out a 5-4-1 formation. Miowski started up top, with Hayes, Schnier, Clarkson, and Polvara in the midfield. The back four was a combination of McKenzie, Jensen, Lubezic, Gartenmann, and Devlin, with Roos in goal.레모나토토 도메인
Early in the first half, Celtic took the lead. The protagonist was Yang Hyun-joon. In the 9th minute, he headed in Palma’s cross from the left flank. It was Yang’s league debut. With the momentum in their favor, Celtic quickly added another goal. In the 16th minute, Yang drove from the right into the center and slipped a penetrating pass to O’Reilly. O’Reilly immediately sent in a grounded cross that Furuhashi slotted home.
Celtic continued to push forward. In the 25th minute, Furuhashi’s shot from a corner was saved by the keeper, and in the 38th minute, Yang beat a defender with good ball control inside the penalty box before cutting back for Furuhashi, who was denied by the opposition defense. In the final minutes of the first half, Holm and Palma both had shots on goal, but neither could convert.
After going into the break with a 2-0 lead, Celtic made a substitution early in the second half. Eight minutes into the second half, Ruhashi and Holm came on for Oh and Turnbull. Oh had the first shot on goal. In the 20th minute, he had a shot from outside the penalty box that was blocked by the defense, and in the 32nd minute, he was involved in Palma’s penalty kick. Oh was tripped by a defender as he went to shoot, and the video assistant referee (VAR) awarded the penalty.
With a three-goal lead, Celtic made a substitution. In the 33rd minute, they brought on Forrest and Bernabay for Yang and Taylor, and three minutes later, they brought on McGregor for Iwata. Aberdeen made three substitutions in a similar time frame. Celtic took the lead. In the first minute of second-half stoppage time, Turnbull scored from outside the penalty box.
The game didn’t end there. Oh was on fire just before the end. Six minutes into stoppage time, he headed home a cross from the left by Palma. Then, in the ninth minute of stoppage time, he collected a forward pass from O’Reilly, sprinted into the box, and calmly slotted home a one-on-one with the keeper. The game ended 6-0 in favor of Celtic.
Celtic (6): Yang Hyun-joon (9th minute), Furuhashi (16th minute), Palma (32nd minute penalty), Turnbull (1st minute of added time), Oh Hyun-gyu (5th minute of added time, 8th minute of added time)
This was a game where Celtic’s Korean attacking duo shone. Yang started the game, while Oh came off the bench. Oh was the first player to make his Celtic debut. Oh joined Celtic from Suwon Samseong in the January transfer window during last season. In his first season, he mostly came on as a substitute. With Furuhashi performing so well, Celtic manager Enze Postecoglou didn’t have to make too many changes.
Oh made 16 appearances in league play. Of those, he only started on three occasions. However, he did his best with the time he was given. He scored six goals and made a positive impression in a short amount of time.
So far this season, he’s still in a tight race for a starting spot. With Postecoglou gone and Brendan Rodgers at the helm, Furuhashi is still a favorite. Oh had started just once in eight league games prior to this one, and had one goal to his name, so it was a good day for him to get a multi-goal game.
Yang Hyun-joon’s debut goal was a double-header. Born in 2002, Yang made his professional debut with Gangwon FC in the 2021 season. In his first season, he wasn’t given many chances, but last season he exploded onto the scene. Yang scored eight goals and provided four assists in 36 matches in the K League 1. His performances earned him the K League Young Player of the Year award.
Last summer, Yang garnered a lot of attention for his performance in a friendly match between Team K League and Tottenham Hotspur. He showed no fear against the Premier League (PL) players and put in some great individual performances. He became Gangwon’s No. 7 ahead of the season and had one goal and one assist in 21 league games.
However, a transfer to Celtic was rumored, and the move was confirmed. In particular, Gangwon made a splash in mid-July with a live broadcast on the club’s YouTube channel, which showed CEO Kim Byung-ji personally signing Yang’s transfer contract. Kwon Hyuk-kyu also joined Yang at Celtic, but unfortunately, he is currently out of contention.
Despite being in his debut season, Yang has been given more opportunities than Oh. Through 13 rounds of the league, he has played 11 games. He has started five of them. Yang recorded his debut assist in mid-August. Since then, he hasn’t scored an offensive point, but in this match, he finally registered his long-awaited debut goal.
The soccer statistics site Fúscore.com gave both players positive ratings. The highest rating was for Palma, who scored a hat trick of assists, including one from the penalty spot. Palma earned a perfect 10. He was followed by O’Reilly, who had two assists, at 9.2.
Oh Hyun-gyu earned 8.5 points and Yang Hyun-joon 8.4 points for the third and fourth highest ratings, respectively. Furuhashi received a 7.9. Celtic’s players were mostly rated in the 7s, while Everton’s players, who suffered a heavy defeat, were mostly rated in the 5s.
After their outstanding performances, Oh and Yang will now head into the November A-Match break. Oh will join Jürgen Klinsmann’s South Korea national soccer team for the second round of Asian qualifying for the 2026 North and Central American World Cup. South Korea will open their group stage campaign on Sept. 16 against Singapore. They will then travel to China on the 19th.
Following the A-match period, Celtic will host Motherwell in round 14 of the league. They then host Lazio later this month in the fifth leg of their UEFA Champions League (UCL) group stage. Celtic are already out of the tournament. They can still finish third if they win both of their remaining games. If they finish third, they’ll head to the UEFA Europa League playoffs.