Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers has had to deal with a sizeable chunk of his first-team squad being away at the Asian Cup and those players have already missed the Scottish Cup win over Buckie Thistle.

The group stage of the continental competition has now concluded. So how will the Asian Cup continue to affect Celtic players now that the Scottish Premiership winter break is over? Firstly, we’ll kick off with how they’ve all been getting on in Qatar.

Which Celtic players are at Asian Cup?

Five Celtic players are currently part of three countries’ squads at the Asian Cup. These are:

• Reo Hatate and Daizen Maeda (Japan)
• Oh Hyeon-gyu and Yang Hyun-jun (South Korea)
• Marco Tilio (Australia)

Hatate and Maeda at Asian Cup

Japan have played all three of their Group D matches, winning two against Vietnam (4-2) and Indonesia (3-1) but losing one against Iraq (1-2).

They collected six points and have qualified as group runners-up as Iraq topped the group with nine points.

Reo Hatate was an unused substitute for the clash versus Vietnam but was handed a 16-minute cameo in the defeat to Iraq. The Hoops midfielder then started against Indonesia and was statistically one of the best players on the park, which is superb to hear.

As for Daizen Maeda, he too was benched for Japan’s opening Group D encounter. But the flying Celtic winger was given substitute opportunities against both Iraq and Indonesa, playing 16 and 21 minutes respectively.

Oh and Yang at Asian Cup

South Korea have just rounded off their group campaign in the most dramatic fashion. They began with a win over Bahrain (3-1) before drawing with Jordan (2-2).

Their qualification hopes went down to the wire on Thursday as they faced Malaysia. It looked like Oh and Yang would be exiting the competition early with the Malaysians leading 2-1 after 82 minutes.

However, South Korea would turn the game on its head in stunning style to lead 3-2 in stoppage time. Surely they could see the win out? No, there was more.

A whole fifteen minutes into injury time, Malaysia struck a third to make it 3-3 in what is surely the game of the Asian Cup so far. South Korea would have finished first with a win but they’ll have to make do with finishing second.

Ironically, Oh and Yang would have been facing Hatate and Maeda’s Japan in the last 16 had they topped the group – it was literally seconds away from happening.

Oh played a total of 36 minutes – here’s how the striker did in his first game – across two of South Korea’s group clashes, while Yang has been restricted to the bench thus far and hasn’t featured at all.

Marco Tilio at Asian Cup

Australia have played all three of their Group B games, winning two against Syria (1-0) and India (2-0) before drawing with Uzbekistan (1-1). The Socceroos gained seven points and progressed to the last 16 as group winners.

Celtic winger Marco Tilio has hardly featured for the Hoops this season but was called up to Australia’s Asian Cup squad. It’s been a similar theme for the 22-year-old in Qatar though.

Tilio has played just a minute at the tournament as he was thrown on at the end of the Uzbekistan clash.

Celtic games Asian Cup stars could miss

The tournament is now entering the knockout phase and sadly for Celtic fans, all three aforementioned nations are through to the last 16.

These are the upcoming domestic games Celtic players will or could miss throughout the rest of the Asian Cup:

• Celtic vs Ross County (January 27)
• Aberdeen vs Celtic (February 3)
• Hibs vs Celtic (February 7)

As mentioned, all five players missed the Scottish Cup clash against Buckie and will also sit out of the Scottish Premiership meeting with the Staggies. It all now depends on how well Japan, South Korea and Australia do with regards to the other two Celtic matches.

Japan, South Korea and Australia are among the favourites to win the whole thing so Celtic fans could be waiting until after the final on February 10 before everyone is back at.

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