Oh Hyeon-gyu gets first start as Celtic blank Aberdeen 4-0

Celtic's Oh Hyeon-gyu reacts during a Scottish Premiership game against Aberdeen at Celtic Park in Glasgow, Scotland on Saturday. [REUTERS/YONHAP]

Oh Hyeon-gyu made his first start for Celtic on Saturday as the Glasgow side blanked Aberdeen 4-0 in the Scottish Premiership.

Oh played 70 minutes before he was substituted off for Kyogo Furuhashi. He looked comfortable on the pitch and played his part in the squad, although he was not involved in any of the four goals.

Captain Callum McGregor opened the scoring for the home side within 2 minutes at Celtic Park in Glasgow, with Reo Hatate adding No. 2 in the 13th minute and then striking again in the 76th minute.

Liel Abada made it four in the 89th minute to wrap up an end-to-end dominant victory.

"First half I thought we were excellent,” manager Ange Postecoglou said after the game. “The tempo, quality and intensity of our football was outstanding and we scored a couple of good goals and could have had a couple more.

"I just thought before the game it was good chance to get Oh some minutes. Kyogo has been outstanding in recent times and it was going to be hard for us to find a game for Oh with the fact we are only playing a game a week at the moment.

"I didn't want to go too long without giving Oh a start and I thought this was a good opportunity to do that.”

Oh signed with Celtic on Jan. 25 in a deal reportedly valued at £2.5 million ($3-million) after a drawn-out transfer saga that saw the Scottish club’s offer initially rejected before both Oh and the Bluewings manager made it clear they thought he deserved the opportunity.

Oh scored 14 goals in 39 appearances across all competitions in the 2022 K League season. He was called up to the senior Korean squad for the first time on Nov. 11, playing 18 minutes of a friendly against Iceland, and landing on the reserves list for the 2022 Qatar World Cup.

The snappy Korean midfielder is still finding his feet in Glasgow, appearing in all five games since his arrival and picking up his debut goal last week in a Scottish Cup clash with St. Mirren.

Oh is the third Korean to play for the Scottish club, following in the footsteps of Ki Sung-yueng and Cha Du-ri.

With this weekend’s Scottish Premiership action out the way, Celtic can now concentrate on next Sunday’s Scottish League Cup final where they will face bitter rivals Rangers.

Rangers and Celtic have long dominated the Scottish League Cup, with Rangers winning 27 times and Celtic 20 times. No other club has won more than six times in the tournament’s history.

But recent history is on Celtic’s side — they are the reigning champions and have won four of the last five titles. Rangers last won in 2011.

BY JIM BULLEY [jim.bulley@joongang.co.kr]