Opinion: Celtic colossus stood tall once more to help Hoops win cup
Cameron Carter-Vickers is the best defender in Scotland, and that was shown once more in Celtic’s 2-1 win over Rangers in the League Cup Final.
The centre-back didn’t have a lot to do in all honesty, but what he did, he did very well, and he also had one of the best defensive moments of the entire game.
That occurred when the game was still goalless in the first-half. Rangers were on the attack, and Borna Barisic put in a cross ball. Carter-Vickers anticipated the cross, and his sliding clearance put the ball just beyond the Celtic post and out of a corner.
Okay it was almost an own goal, but his challenge prevented Fashion Sakala from reaching the ball and also prevented Malik Tillman from having a tap-in at the back post.
It was a truly great bit of defending from the United States international, and not long after that challenge Kyogo gave the Hoops the lead and the Bhoys never looked back, going on to win the cup.
Carter-Vickers wasn’t to blame for the goal Celtic conceded, possibly Aaron Mooy and Joe Hart could have done better on that front. For the most part, Carter-Vickers and his centre-back partner Carl Starfelt were once against excellent for the Hoops, which they have been for the majority of the season.
Carter-Vickers should be delighted with his performance at Hampden, but you have to think that as a defender he will probably be annoyed that the Hoops didn’t manage to keep a clean sheet, these things do happen in football though, and the goal didn’t matter in the long run as the Hoops went on to win the cup.
If you look at the signings made by Celtic since Ange Postecoglou took over as manager, there is a debate which can be made about who has been the best signing made by the Celtic boss.
There can be arguments made for a number of players, Jota and Kyogo have been excellent, as has the aforementioned Carl Starfelt. But the best signing has to be Carter-Vickers. It really was a terrific bit of business by the club to get the player signed at first on loan, and then on a permanent deal.
Hopefully the defender stays at Celtic Park for a good few years yet, as he is such a good player, and one of the best defenders that has been at the club for a long time, and that one clearance outlined above shows just how good a player Carter-Vickers is for Celtic.
