Yang Hyun-jun showed Celtic exactly what they were missing at Ibrox with an excellent assist for South Korea in their Asian Games opener.
The winger was around 9,000 miles away in Japan when Rangers inflicted a humiliating 3-0 defeat on Martin O’Neill’s side on Sunday.
With Yang unavailable because of his international commitments, Sebastian Tounekti was selected on the left wing. It proved to be a disastrous afternoon for the Tunisian, who struggled to make an impact and was hooked at half-time.
As Oasis announced they would bring their world tour to Celtic Park, Yang was quite literally half the world away with his country.
South Korea began their pursuit of a fourth successive Asian Games gold medal with a convincing 4-1 victory over Qatar in Nagoya.
Yang started on the right and played his part in Kim Myeong-jun’s second-half goal. The Celtic winger spotted the striker’s run and threaded a perfectly weighted pass behind the Qatar defence, allowing Kim to race clear and finish.
It was exactly the type of incisive ball Celtic lacked during their defeat at Ibrox.
Kim Myung-jun of #krcgenk makes it 4 goals for Korea!
Nice assist by #CelticFC‘s Yang Hyun-jun! 🤝
Korea just running away with this! 🫡🇰🇷pic.twitter.com/CxTNaK0Fvs
— Joel Kim (@KNTFootball) September 15, 2026
The Hoops struggled to play through Rangers and rarely gave Kasper Høgh meaningful service inside the penalty area. They needed somebody capable of carrying the ball, recognising a forward run and breaking the defensive line.
Yang provided precisely that for his country.
Eom Ji-sung had already scored a first-half hat-trick before Yang supplied Kim for South Korea’s fourth goal in the 66th minute. Qatar later grabbed a consolation to complete the scoring. [The Korea Times]
The winger left Celtic after scoring in successive matches against Aberdeen and St Mirren, making his absence from the derby even more frustrating.
Yang has not always been the most consistent performer in green and white, but his direct running and willingness to attack defenders could have given Celtic a different option at Ibrox.
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