Reo Hatate named in SPFL Team of the Week | OneFootball

Reo Hatate has been named in the SPFL Team of The Week following his excellent display at Tynecastle in Celtic’s 4-1 victory over Hearts…

Reo Hatate at Tynecastle. Hearts v Celtic, Scottish Premiership, Tynecastle. 23 November 2024. Photo Vagelis Georgariou (The Celtic Star)

Hatate played an integral role in Brendan Rodgers’ side comfortably defeating the Jambos 4-1 in Gorgie on Saturday evening.

What is more impressive about the Japanese playmaker’s inclusion and recognition in TOTW is the mileage the 26 year-old clocked up during the international break. Hajime Moriyasu’s Samurai Blue’s ventured long distances to China and Indonesia to compete in AFC Qualification matches. However, Hatate only featured for 12 minutes versus Indonesia across the two games.

As a result of Celtic’s victory, the Hoops went three points clear of Aberdeen at the top of the table. Jimmy Thelin’s Dons suffered their first league defeat of the season as St Mirren won 2-1 in Paisley.

Subsequent of the horrendous weather conditions throughout Scotland over the weekend, there were just three lower league matches that were deemed playable. Hence the reason why this week’s SPFL TOTW is unusually packed with top-flight players.

Champions League Reo Hatate celebrates after scoring in the second half of a Champions League football match against Leipzig on Nov. 5, 2024, Photo Imago (The Celtic Star).

The Star Man in the named XI is Dundee United goalkeeper Jack Walton. Jim Goodwin’s side picked up an impressive point at Ibrox helped by the English shotstopper’s numerous top class saves. Notably, with Celtic winning in Edinburgh and theRangers dropping more points, the gap between the Scottish champions and last campaign’s runners-up is now a staggering 11 points.

Top of the League looking down on Aberdeen

And there was further good news for Celtic last night after Hibs equalised with the last kick of the ball against Aberdeen at Easter Road to earn a point in the 3-3 draw. Highlights are below and this result means that Aberdeen narrow the gap to two points but have now played a game more than Celtic.

So from being neck and neck level we now have a two points lead and a game in hand. Not a bad few days for Celtic, let’s hope that it gets even better this evening in the Champions League against a decent but not outstanding Club Brugge side.

Here is the full SPFL TOTW from last weekend’s round of fixtures:

GK – Jack Walton [Dundee United] RB – Josh Mulligan [Dundee] CB – Nicky Devlin [Ayr United] CB – Richard Taylor [St Mirren] LB – James Penrice [Hearts] RM – Vaclav Cerny [theRangers] CM – Michael Gardyne [Montrose] CM – Josh Nisbet [Ross County] CM – Reo Hatate [Celtic] LM – Ethan Ross [Falkirk] ST – Makenzie Kirk [St Johnstone]

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