Opinion: One big moment vindicated Celtic star's derby selection

It is fair to say that Reo Hatate wasn’t at his best in Celtic‘s 2-1 win over Rangers at the weekend.

He was replaced in the 62nd minute of the game by Nir Bitton, as he seemed to find the pace of the game difficult to deal with.

He didn’t have the same impact as he did in Celtic’s 3-0 win over Rangers in February, when he scored two goals. However, he did provide one big moment in the game which vindicated Ange Postecoglou’s decision to start the Japanese international.

Celtic needed a quick response after going a goal behind at Ibrox, and Hatate helped to provide, in a manner reminiscent of his performance against Rangers in the victory at Celtic Park.

Hatate had a shot on goal from the edge of the penalty area, similar to the goals he scored against Rangers earlier this year. On this occasion the shot was saved by Allan McGregor, but the ball broke to Tom Rogic who fired home the equaliser.

That was the biggest impact that the 24-year-old had on the game, and it was so important, as Celtic could have struggled to get the win had the team not responded to going a goal behind so quickly.

Hatate did struggle to have an impact on the game after his assist for the goal, and that might have been down to him playing on international duty for Japan, and the amount of travelling he had to do before returning to Glasgow.

It was the correct decision by the Celtic boss to take Hatate off, as the game was passing him bye. But in the two games he has played against Rangers, the player has scored twice and contributed to another goal, so he has been hugely successful in the games he has played in against Celtic’s biggest rivals.

Therefore, you would expect Hatate to be in the starting line-up when Celtic take on Rangers in the