Celtic beat the Dons at Hampden Park last week in the Scottish Cup final.
Speaking to The Scotsman, Scotland assistant manager Mark McGhee has paid tribute to Celtic’s Stuart Armstrong for his performance in the Scottish Cup final win over Aberdeen.
Celtic beat the Dons 2-1 at Hampden Park nine days ago to clinch a domestic treble, with Tom Rogic netting an extra-time winner following a stubborn display from Derek McInnes’s side on the day.
The 25-year-old has had a fine season with the Hoops, netting 17 times in all competitions, and McGhee, who spent four years at Parkhead, says that Armstrong was the Bhoys’ go-to-guy throughout the first half.
“It was a different sort of game for Celtic,” he told The Scotsman.
“They had to dig in and roll up their sleeves because of the way Aberdeen played. The first half in particular I thought Stuart Armstrong was brilliant.
“He was the one that kept them going and tried to get their game up a gear.”
Six of those Celtic boys will be back at Hampden at the weekend as Scotland gear up for a World Cup qualifier with England.
There was a slight question mark over Kieran Tierney’s participation after the 19-year-old left-back suffered a facial injury due to Jayden Stockley’s flailing arm.
Nevertheless, McGhee reveals the “great news” that the highly-rated defender is available to face the Three Lions in spite of his injury, which cost him two of his teeth.
“He is looking absolutely A-okay, which is great news for us.
“He is a boy who has broken into the team and could go on and have a lot of caps. We want as many of the boys available as possible so it’s good he will be able to play, especially after his performance moving from left-back to right-back against Slovenia.”
Leigh Griffiths, Craig Gordon, Scott Brown and James Forrest are the other Celtic players in the reckoning to face Gareth Southgate’s troops this week.
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