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Celtic retained their eight-point lead at the top of the Scottish Premiership table with a comfortable 3-0 win over St Mirren on Tuesday evening.
Brendan Rodgers‘ side have played two more matches than their closest rivals but it is a healthy lead to take into the second half of the campaign.
The Hoops found themselves 2-0 up inside the opening six minutes of the encounter as goals from Daizen Maeda and Matt O’Riley gave them a quick advantage, before a second half goal from Greg Taylor made sure of the three points.
O’Riley caught the eye with yet another terrific display in the middle of the park for the Scottish giants but he was not the only star of the show as Paulo Bernardo, who could turn out to be Jota 2.0, produced a fantastic performance.
Matt O’Riley’s performance against St Mirren in numbers
The Denmark international produced a superb and incisive pass to find Maeda in the final third for the first goal inside the opening minute of the match.
He then took a touch inside the box before lashing a shot through the legs of the goalkeeper to make it 2-0 in the sixth minute to secure a goal and an assist.
O’Riley made four key passes and created one ‘big chance’ in total throughout the match as he used his creative brilliance to pick apart the opposition’s defence.
It was a devastating display from the former Fulham prospect and Bernardo impressed alongside him with another excellent showing in midfield.
Paulo Bernardo’s performance against St Mirren in numbers
The 21-year-old maestro came into this game off the back of goals in back-to-back games against Dundee and Rangers, with the latter being a sublime volley to open the scoring.
He was not able to find the back of the net for a third game but, instead, his creative quality was on full display as the young gem destroyed Kilmarnock’s backline with his skill and invention.
Bernardo assisted O’Riley’s goal with a sublime Cruyff turn in the box that led to a pass across the box for his midfield partner to slot home.
His second assist was just as special as the Benfica loanee beautifully lifted the ball over the top of the packed opposition defence – a pass that was described as “genius” by Scott Brown during Sky Sports’ post-match analysis – for Taylor to fire in the third.
He had 46 touches in the match and produced three key passes and two ‘big chances’ created in that time, to go along with two out of three dribbles completed, as the Hoops whiz carved them open at will to create high-quality opportunities for his teammates.
It was a sensational showing from the Portuguese magician and he is now well on his way to becoming Brendan Rodgers’ own version of Jota.
|
Jota’s loan and permanent spells at Celtic (via Sofascore) |
||
|---|---|---|
|
Jota |
21/22 Premiership |
22/23 Premiership |
|
Appearances |
29 |
33 |
|
Goals |
Ten |
11 |
|
Assists |
Ten |
11 |
|
Big chances created |
17 |
13 |
As you can see from the table above, his compatriot made a huge impact during his first season on loan with the Hoops under Ange Postecoglou before carrying his form over to his permanent spell the following term.
That led to a £25m switch to Al Ittihad last summer and Celtic could look to strike a permanent deal for Bernardo with a view to making a significant profit on him in the future if he is able to carry on his current impressive run of form.
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