Celtic conjure second half magic as Kyogo battles through pain to leave Dundee reeling – 3 talking points

Celtic staged a second half blitz to see off determined Dundee and secure a Champions League boost.

The Hoops will head to Holland this week to take on Feyenoord with three Premiership points in the bag after Kyogo and Matt O'Riley weighed in with goals on the back of David Turnbull’s penalty opener. Brendan Rodgers gave new Liverpool loan defender the first half Nat Phillips while fellow new arrivals Luis Palma and Paulo Bernardo got a taste from the bench.

The return of Reo Hatate from injury made a difference after the break and by that stage Celtic were in the clear. But Dundee made them scrap all the way after managing to frustrate the champions in the opening 45 minutes and had a couple of big chances of their own.

They were eventually breached after VAR clocked a foul on Turnbull was inside the box and the Hoops never looked back. Celtic quickly took control and searched for openings in the packed Dark Blues defence.

Not that they could find many in a frustrating first half for the hosts. Daizen Maeda found one early on after some terrific work from Yang Hyun-jun and some ball juggling, but Trevor Carson stood tall to block the Japan star’s volley.

There was minor concern when Kyogo disappeared to pop his shoulder back in and moments later Matt O’Riley was inches away when he cut inside and clipped the inside of the post.

The ball did find it’s way into the net just before the half hour when Scales superbly picked out Maeda with a ball over the top and the attacker brilliantly took one touch and drilled into the bottom corner. But the flag shot up and VAR confirmed he’s crept just offside.

Dundee were holding firm – and they nearly stunned Celtic at the other end when Luke McCowan wriggled free in the box and Joe