Aaron Mooy and Kyogo Furuhashi return from injury into the Celtic side for the Viaplay Cup Final at Hampden after being missing from the side that beat Aberdeen 4-0 last Saturday.
The Australian midfielder missed that match through injury but replaces Matt O’Riley in the centre of the park as Celtic look to retain the trophy they won last season by beating Hibs 2-1 in the final. As expected Kyogo replaces Oh Hyeon-gyu.
O’Riley is on the bench alongside David Turnbull with no slot for James Forrest with Tony Ralston and Yuki Kobayashi the defenders on the bench.
Celtic drew 2-2 at Ibrox on January 2 but go into today’s match with a fully fit squad and with three January signings on the bench while Alastair Johnstone is in the starting XI. Nicolas Raskin and Todd Cantwell don’t make Micky Beale’s starting XI
Nick Walsh will referee his second Glasgow derby of the season with John Beaton of the Lanarkshire Refereeing Association reviewing the match on VAR duty.
CELTIC: Hart; Johnston, Carter-Vickers, Starfelt, Taylor; McGregor, Hatate, Mooy; Jota, Kyogo, Maeda
SUBS: Bain, Haksabanovic, Abada, Turnbull, Kobayashi, Oh, Iwata, O’Riley, Ralston
? Today’s #RangersFC team to face Celtic in the Viaplay Cup final.
?? Full Team News: https://t.co/2gPCe6CGat pic.twitter.com/3AM30AkNLq
— Rangers Football Club (@RangersFC) February 26, 2023
Again Maeda is back to his inability to cross into the box, shoot or pass to a teammate. He shouldn’t be on in the second half, bring Abada on and get Jota on the left.
How Ange can take Jota off for Abada instead of Maeda is baffling! WTF!