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Celtic’s wait for a European away win is over.

On Thursday night, despite falling behind inside 11 minutes, the Hoops fought back to beat Feyenoord 3-1 at De Kuip; Yang Hyun-jun, Reo Hatate and Benjamin Nygren the scorers on a famous night in Rotterdam.

Before this, the Celts had failed to win any of their last 16 European fixtures on the road, dating back four years.

In fact, since reaching the UEFA Cup Final under Martin O’Neill in 2003, they have won only six times on the continent, excluding qualifiers, enjoying wins over Spartak Moskva, Anderlecht, Rosenborg, Lazio, Ferencváros and now Feyenoord across the last 22 seasons.

In terms of this season, the victory propels the Celts up to 21st in the gigantic Europa League table, a major boost to their hopes of reaching the knockout stages, with games against Roma, Bologna and then Utrecht still to come.

So, which Celtic star looked like an £100m player during this win at De Kuip?

Celtic's new manager latest

Since returning to the club on an interim basis, O’Neill could hardly have done much better.

He has won three Premiership matches out of three, ousted Rangers in the League Cup semi-finals and now claimed a memorable European victory in the Netherlands; the shellacking against Midtjylland in Herning the only blot on his copybook.

Nevertheless, for how much longer will he remain in interim charge?

Well, the 73 year old, alongside Shaun Maloney, will still be at the helm for Sunday’s clash with Hibernian at Easter Road, but could that be the final game of their tenure?

That’s because, according to widespread reports, the club are now in advanced talks with Columbus Crew manager Wilfried Nancy, with some optimistic that the Frenchman could be in place in time for next Wednesday’s clash with Dundee.

Considering they take on current Premiership leaders Hearts and then the side top of Serie A Roma thereafter, the board will be desperate to get Nancy in as quickly as possible.

Assuming the Frenchman was watching Thursday’s win over Feyenoord, potentially while enjoying some Thanksgiving food in Ohio, one player in particular surely will have caught his eye.

Celtic's best player vs Feyenoord

Towards the end of Brendan Rodgers’ tenure, Reo Hatate found himself no longer a guaranteed starter, only on the bench for the Europa League home defeat to Braga, before not getting on at all during a dismal goalless draw with Hibs in September.

Nevertheless, having been made a key figure under O’Neill, he was the star of the show in Rotterdam.

Hatate spectacularly set up Yang’s equaliser before, soon after, coolly slotting home the second, rolling the ball into an unguarded net from long-range after some trademark closing down by Daizen Maeda forced Timon Wellenreuther into a catastrophic error.

Overall, the midfield maestro completed 89% of his passes, took two shots, created one big chance and registered nine ball recoveries, underlining that he was everywhere.

After a 3-3 draw with Rangers at Ibrox last year, Brendan Rodgers asserted that Hatate “gives it away too much for my liking”, labelling him “sloppy’, a sign of his decline in form and importance.

Now though, he is playing at a comparable level to Enzo Fernandez, according to FBref, who note that the players are statistically and stylistically similar among those in their position across Europe.

That is a sign of Hatate’s recent revival, not least with Fernandez having not too long ago been signed by Chelsea for a fee of around £107m from Benfica.

Such a comparison is no unwarranted either, with Hatate arguably putting in his best performance of the season against Feyenoord, while operating in a Fernandez-esque, more advanced midfield berth

Hatate – last 365 days

Stats

Hatate

Non-penalty Goals

0.13

Assists

0.26

Shot-creating actions

2.31

Pass completion

83%

Progressive passes

4.31

Progressive carries

1.16

Successful take-ons

0.77

Tackles

1.28

Interceptions

0.51

via FBref

Meantime, the Japanese star is proving just what a goal threat he is in Europe too, scoring against both Midtjylland and Feyenoord, also registering an assist at De Kuip this week.

Given how impressive Hatate has been since first arriving at Parkhead almost four years ago, it is frankly a surprise that a Premier League club has not come in and poached him.

Celtic supporters will hope that remains the case, with the 28-year-old likely to be a central, undroppable figure when Nancy does finally arrive.

Related As good as Hatate: Celtic flop showed he can be "world class" under Nancy

Celtic beat Feyenoord 3-1 at De Kuip in the UEFA Europa League on Thursday, and one player showed his “world class’ potential, as good as Reo Hatate.

Posts ByBen Gray Nov 28, 2025

The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) elections will be held on October 6, the board’s election commission announced on Sunday. The general members body, known as the councillors, will elect 23 of the 25 board directors, and the BCB president will be elected from that pool of 25 to serve a four-year term.The announcement was made less than an hour after former Bangladesh captain Tamim Iqbal accused BCB president Aminul Islam of “interference” in the election process.Tamim, who recently announced he was standing for election, held a press conference in Dhaka along with several other aspirants and former BCB directors. He said Aminul’s signed letter, dated September 18, instructing the country’s sports secretary that he has extended the deadline for nomination submission, was a unilateral decision taken by the board president.”The election commission is in charge since their appointment, which in this case was from September 6,” Tamim said. “The BCB president extended the deadline for nomination submission twice. The deadlines for submitting nominations were first set for September 17. He extended it to September 19, and then September 22. The second extension was signed off by the president himself, which is highly irregular. The BCB’s chief executive is supposed to send out these letters, but he didn’t issue the letter for the second extension. The president signed off the letter.”Tamim alleged the BCB’s constitution was violated when the board representatives from the country’s eight divisions and 64 districts were nominated by an ad-hoc committee, rather than seasoned sports organisers being nominated. “Typically, in districts and divisions, those involved in sports can nominate councillors through the district administration. This has been the practice for many years. But this time, an ad-hoc committee was formed and only its approval would be valid for nominations.”It isn’t mentioned in the BCB’s constitution. Moreover, we have seen people being removed from or added to the ad-hoc committee at will. If elections are conducted this way, it is no longer an election but a selection. Elections should be open and fair for everyone.”Tamim urged the authorities to respect the original councillors’ list. “I hope that those declared as councillors on September 17 remain unchanged. There should be no modifications. Cricket must remain for everyone – not for a specific person or group. I hope the election is impartial and free from interference.”According to the election schedule, the draft voter list will be published on September 22, followed by the final list on September 25.The election will have three categories. In the first, ten directors will be elected from the divisions and districts in the country. In the second category, 12 directors will be elected from the representatives of the Dhaka clubs. In the third category, one director will be elected from a pool of former cricketers, national captains, security forces, and councillors nominated by the National Sports Council. The Bangladesh government will also select two directors to sit on the board.

Bumrah could have been the difference, but he wasn’t in the end. Instead, it was in the lengths and the Pujara model that the series was won and lost

Sidharth Monga11-Jan-2025High seam and low bounce proved to be the ideal combination for India in Perth. They could stick to bowling their 6-8-metre good length and still hit the stumps with it. Australia went with their traditional 5-7-metre good-length band, getting driven and then going too short in reaction. Even though Australia bowled India out for 150 on the first morning, they bowled 35 balls fuller than the 5-metre mark, conceding 20% of that total.Either India learned from what they watched or they just stuck to their natural good lengths, which turned out to be the best for these conditions. Australia were at the stumps less frequently than once in two overs; India attacked the wicket once every over. Eight of the 18 wickets India’s fast bowlers took were either bowled or lbw.!function(){“use strict”;window.addEventListener(“message”,(function(a){if(void 0!==a.data[“datawrapper-height”]){var e=document.querySelectorAll(“iframe”);for(var t in a.data[“datawrapper-height”])for(var r=0;r<e.length;r++)if(e[r].contentWindow===a.source){var i=a.data["datawrapper-height"][t]+"px";e[r].style.height=i}}}))}();