Abada helps Celtic past Motherwell in the League Cup

Defending champions Celtic reached the semi-finals of the Scottish League Cup after Liel Abada’s brace helped past Motherwell.

The Israel winger then became an assist for Reo Hatate before his shot fell off a post to Kyogo Furuhashi to score Celtic’s fourth as they join Kilmarnock in the last four.

Ange Postecoglou’s side will find out their opponent later on Wednesday as they seek their seventh League Cup success in nine seasons, with the semi-final draw taking place after the evening’s other two ties.

There was rarely a moment at Fir Park when it felt like shock, as Celtic created a barrage of chances in the first half before finally finding the breakthrough.

Kyogo could have had a hat-trick before the break when he cracked a shot off the bar, missed a gold-rimmed chance from six yards out and then parried another close-range shot from Kelly.

But when Abada invaded the Motherwell box to find Taylor’s cross after a clean exchange with Sead Haksabanovic, what followed after the break was inevitable.

The 21-year-old added his eighth goal of the season when Josip Juranovic’s shot was saved and he reacted instinctively to plant the ball in the corner.

And then his cross was picked up by Hatate, who showed fantastic skill at rolling his right foot over the ball to move it out of Kelly’s reach before pinning it into the empty net.

Abada was then slipped through and had a chance to grab a hat-trick from Daizen Maeda, but his low shot hit a post and Kyogo waited to turn the ball home.

Motherwell ultimately couldn’t withstand Celtic’s movement in the final third but Steven Hammell’s side still had some magic just to avoid taking the chances that presented themselves.

Stuart McKinstry had the best of them when the game was goalless but the striker sliced ​​his shot terribly wide from 10 yards when he had enough time to make a touch after a weak Moritz Jenz defense.

Those are the opportunities that are easy to capitalize on against this Celtic side given the sheer volume of chances they create on the other end.

After a period of relative waste, that’s now 10 goals in two games and a first clean sheet in nine.

Player of the Match – Reo Hatate

what they said

Motherwell boss Steven Hammell: “It’s a difficult question. I felt like we just met a good team at a good moment. When you lose the goal before half-time, you don’t need to be an expert to know things are changing . Unfortunately we did it again.” conceded some really weak goals.”

Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou: “I thought the way Motherwell was set up really tried to be aggressive in terms of putting pressure on us when we tried to play from behind.

“I just thought we handled it really well and after playing through their pressing we had good chances and could have ended the game a bit earlier. But overall very satisfied.”

What’s next?

Motherwell host Aberdeen in the Scottish Premiership on Saturday (15:00CET), while Celtic travel to Edinburgh to meet Hearts in the lunchtime (12:30) kick-off.