It was a real mixed day for Celtic’s Japanese midfielder Reo Hatate yesterday afternoon against Motherwell.
Hatate has started the season really well, both domestically and in Europe, and I thought yesterday he was one of our best players, and I think most Celtic fans would agree with that.
He was also awarded man of the match and scored a brilliant goal to secure Celtic’s 2-1 victory and was unlucky in the first half when another fantastic strike rattled off the woodwork.
However, his performance was soured to some extent after he made a mistake late in the game by playing a really slack pass back to Callum McGregor which the Motherwell player was easily able to intercept and this resulted in the captain having to pull the player down for a professional foul which saw him sent off and Celtic reduced to ten men.
Speaking after the game, Celtic left back Greg Taylor explained that Hatate was very apologetic in the dressing room and held his hands up over the error:
“Reo was very apologetic, which he didn’t have to be because he’s the reason we won. He’s got high standards but nobody was expecting an apology.” stated Taylor.
“He has been outstanding thus far. He’s a top player and got the winner when the game was in the balance. I’m sure he’ll continue to progress into a real top player.”
Every player mistakes, but not everyone is big enough to hold their hands up and admit they got it wrong, especially in football.
To me, it shows the outstanding character that Reo Hatate has, he will learn from it and only get better and as Taylor said, he won us the game with his fantastic strike, so he shouldn’t feel too down on himself.
There is a real sense of togetherness in this Celtic team, and I’m sure the other players will remind him of how good he was today and how well he’s played so far this season.
