Fresh from the opening strike of his Celtic goalscoring account, Giorgos Giakoumakis insists that today’s victory over St Johnstone in the SPFL will mean very little if we don’t carry on in this vein. The big Greek striker opened the scoring and his own Celtic goalscoring record with a neat volley from inside the six-yard box, after a great cross from full-back, Anthony Ralston.
Giakoumakis, a £2 million signing is thus far paying back the outlay after his move from VVV-Venlo in the Eredivise. With the finish inside the Saints’ box today, it isn’t hard to figure out why the player scored 26 goals in the Dutch league last season. Quite a remarkable feat when you consider his team was fighting relegation.
Giakoumakis can consider himself unfortunate not to have had more chances at Celtic Park today, with his teammates somewhat reluctant put crosses into the box for the big man to attack. His build-up play brings something that has been missing from a Celtic side since Moussa Dembele tore up defences in a hooped jersey. After getting game time in the legs and a goal for his new side, Ange Postecoglou replaced Giorgos with Mikey Johnston – allowing the player a well-deserved standing ovation from the Celtic support.
There is definitely more to come from Giorgos, whilst scoring at Celtic Park on your first start isn’t half bad. After the match the attacker spoke to Celtic TV, and revealed his delight at scoring. He said: “It was something that I was looking foreward to feel. To score under the lights of this stadium, with these people, our fans, was something amazing.”
“It was exactly how I imagined this. I had it in my mind. So I am really happy. It’s a tough team to play against. It’s a team that is focused on the defence. They played with three central defenders, so our work was more difficult than usual. Finally we scored and that was it.”
Looking ahead to the next game in midweek at Easter Road against Hibernian, Giakoumakis said: “Yip, it’s another game. We are focused on every game, in different ways. We have to prepare again. We have to be happy until Tuesday night, and then we think about the next game. It’s not a fight, its a marathon and we have to keep going.”
Spirited words from Girogos after his inaugural strike at Paradise. The team spirit was also on show today when our own Cameron Carter-Vickers was targetted by Chris Kane and his brutish teammates. Regardless, we still came through with a vital win and Girogos will be hoping to make an impact again at Easter Road come Wednesday night.
Watch Giorgos Giakoumakis’ full interview with Celtic TV below…
🗣️ Hear from our number 7⃣, Giorgos Giakoumakis after his first Hoops goal! ⚽️#cinchPrem | #CELSTJ | #COYBIG 🍀 pic.twitter.com/5hqLzpyBwN
— Celtic Football Club (@CelticFC) October 23, 2021
