2024-07-23
It may have only been a friendly, but what a great game Celtic of Scotland gave us against Manchester City, whose 4-3 victory was decided by a goal from Honduran Luis Enrique Palma Oseguera.
‘El Bicho’ started as a substitute in the match held at the Kenan Memorial Stadium in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, despite the fact that in the previous game where they beat DC United (4-0), he was a starter and registered an assist.
It wasn’t Halaand! Fans rush onto the pitch in the middle of City-Celtic to take a photo with Honduran Luis Palma!
Northern Ireland coach Brendan Rodgers lined up his best players in his traditional 4-3-3 formation against Pep Guardiola’s team, who only had Erling Haaland and Jack Grealish as the most notable players in their squad due to the absences of their participants in the Euro Cup and Copa America.
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The first half was a surprise from the start as the Scottish side opened the scoring with a goal from German Nicolas Kühn (13′). Oscar Bobb equalised for City (33′) after an assist from Haaland, but two minutes later Kühn would once again punish the lonely left flank of the English team.
Before the break, Danish mastermind Matt O’Riley gave a tremendous three-finger assist to Japanese Kygo Furuhashi, who did not get nervous inside the area, got past goalkeeper Ortega Moreno and made it 3-1 (44′) to close a dream first half for the ‘Bhoys’.
The second half did not disappoint. City quickly found the net after a goal from the new substitute, the Argentine Máximo Perrone (47′), who opened the gap for the ‘blue’ slam on the rival goal, which ten minutes later would be pulverized again by a header from Erling Haaland.
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Night was falling for Celtic and then Luis Palma (64′) came on for top scorer Kygo, and the Honduran took less than four minutes to make the difference on the pitch, as he was in charge of scoring the winning goal after managing to push the ball in when goalkeeper Ederson was beaten.
At the end of the match, a fan entered the field and took a photo with ‘Bicho’ Palma, who will fulfil one of his dreams next Saturday by facing his favourite team as a child, Chelsea of England, in a friendly to be played in Indiana.
CELTIC: Schmeichel; Ralston, Taylor, Scales, Welsh; McGregor, O´Riley, Hatate; Maeda, Furuhashi, Kühn.
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