Celtic boss Martin O’Neill lavished praise on Hyun-jun Yang after the winger signed off by scoring the winner in a 2-1 victory over St Mirren last night.
Yang was the hero as Celtic came from 1-0 down to claim their fifth straight win at the start of the new season, extending their lead at the top of the table to five points.
The South Korean will now head off to represent his country in the Asian Games – and will miss Celtic’s next four matches against St Johnstone, Rangers (twice) and Ferencvaros.
There is also a chance that Yang could be required to spend a period of time doing national service, depending on how the South Koreans fare in the tournament.
Admitting he will be a huge loss, O’Neill said of the in-form winger: ‘Yang was brilliant and he has been fantastic for me. We are going to miss him, no question.
‘It was a great pass from Camilo Duran but Yang still has to finish it off. He’s in fine form and I hope he goes and wins the tournament with his country.
Celtic winger Hyun-jun Yang celebrates his winning goal against St Mirren in Paisley
‘He has signed off with a brilliant goal. He’s in great form — and he’ll work for you going backwards as well. He doesn’t mind doing the hard graft.’
Against a St Mirren side who also came into the match unbeaten, Celtic fell behind to a penalty from Nikolas Agrafiotis in the first half. But O’Neill’s men rallied after the break and levelled the match through a Liam Scales header, before a rapid breakaway saw Camilo Duran feed Yang for the winner.
It was a night of several VAR controversies, including two more goals for Celtic which were ruled out for offside. But the officials had issues with their headsets, as well as the accuracy of the lines being displayed on the screen.
‘You cannot celebrate any more until these things are fully decided,’ said O’Neill. ‘But I’m delighted that we’ve won the game.
‘St Mirren played splendidly, as we thought they would do, and caused us loads of problems.
‘They got in front, we had a goal disallowed for offside which must have been very, very tight.
‘We go in at half-time behind against a team that’s been in sparkling form, so I’m delighted that we won.
‘We didn’t quite have the fluency that we’ve shown in recent games, but delighted we’ve won.
Yang’s goal helped Celtic maintain their perfect start to the season with five wins from five
‘On the break we were very dangerous, but we couldn’t put the game beyond St Mirren. There were some sparking moments from us.
‘We scored at an important moment too, we came out the second half and we looked as if we were dominant, but just couldn’t break them down.
‘Then suddenly we get the corner and score the goal, which gives us a major lift too. Overall though, we can improve.’
Celtic captain Callum McGregor added: ‘Much better second half. A good win, important because we probably wasted 45 minutes.
‘We’re a team that want to go forward and score goals, so you have to rely on the guys at the back to bail you out sometimes.
‘We know the way we want the game to look, so it’s about reinforcing that to the boys coming in.
‘Yang is a really important part of the team. He’s a big player to miss, but obviously we wish him the best [at the Asian Games].’
