Bernabei persistence pays off as Celtic wrap up Japan tour with win | OneFootball

Celtic wrapped up their tour of Japan with a win thanks to a late goal that was all about the attitude of Alexandro Bernabei.

Scorers: Bernabei 85′

Following defeat in their opener in Asia, Celtic started brighter this time and had a legitimate early goal wrongly ruled out by the offside flag after Reo Hatate picked out Daizen Maeda’s well-timed run for the forward to finish.

Callum McGregor, David Turnbull and Maeda again had further openings before the break but the Hoops failed to find the net as the sides exited level and scoreless.

An entire XI of changes was made for the second half which saw Kyogo assume the captain’s armband on his return home but it was almost Osaka who struck for the opener, only for a big Benjamin Siegrist double save which kept things level and then the post came to his aid shortly afterwards when the Swiss was beaten.

Few further clearcut chances followed before the winner arrived without an opportunity and was solely down to the persistence of Bernabei who, after a slack pass was intercepted by the opposing goalkeeper, sprinted from his own half to close him down which reaped rewards when he won possession in the area and squeezed past the ‘keeper for the only goal of the game.

Next up for the Hoops is a trip to Dublin to take on Wolves.