Coming into the Glasgow Derby, not many could have predicted how dominant Celtic would turn out to be. Their recent performances against the Rangers had been a cause for worry but a brace from Reo Hatate and one from Liel Abada sealed a 3-0 win for Ange Postecoglou’s side. It also meant that they returned to the top of the Scottish Premiership after a long time. This was certainly a statement of intent from the Hoops. The title race is well and truly on.

One player who absolutely dazzled against the Rangers is Hatate. The club appear to have pulled off an absolute masterstroke by signing the Japanese star from Kawasaki Frontale this January.

Hatate scored twice and then set up Abada’s goal as well, in one of the best Glasgow Derby debuts in a long time.

So impressive was his performance that he earned praise from players like John McGinn and Andy Robertson. The Aston Villa star tweeted out:

While Robertson tweeted out:

Hatate dazzles as Celtic ease past the Rangers in Glasgow Derby

It will be interesting to see how the season turns out from here on but at the moment, the momentum certainly looks to be on the side of Celtic.

Postecoglou deserves immense credit for the job that he has done since coming in as manager in the summer. And one of the best things that he has done is bring in players like Hatate.

It is very, very unlikely that Celtic would have signed so many players from the J1 League without Postecoglou being the manager.

Of course, we all know how quickly things can change in football. Coming out of the winter break, the Rangers were sitting six points ahead of Celtic. Now, they are one point behind. The most important thing from here on is to keep up the performances.