Matt O’Riley spoke to the media to preview the upcoming Scottish Cup Final between the Hoops and Inverness Caley Thistle. The Danish midfielder has enjoyed a somewhat mixed time of it this year after he burst onto the scene in the January of 2022 following his £1.5 million move from MK Dons in the lower leagues of England.
Filling in incredibly well during Callum McGregor’s unfortunate absence, he helped to solidity that Celtic midfield alongside Reo Hatate and Aaron Mooy before the World Cup in Qatar. However, his form did take a bit of a dip recently and he has enjoyed mixed spells lately to say the least.
That being said, the 22-year-old will be desperate to be included tomorrow afternoon right from the start and with Aussie Aaron Mooy still out of action, he may very well be starting beside dynamic duo Callum McGregor and Reo Hatate in that central midfield area. Eager to help write himself and his teammates names into the Celtic history books, Matt knows what beckons for Saturday evening and the potential win a domestic clean sweep this year.
Speaking yesterday he said: “If you win every trophy then it’s probably a perfect season, but we need to do it first. I can only speak for the feeling I will have if we win it because I’ve not had this experience before. I’ve won two trophies this season, one more than I won last, so I’ve improved on that which is great.
“Adding one more would be the cherry on top. It’s a nice position to be in and it’s an exciting time and we’ve had a good week at training where the mood has been as it usually is. It would be amazing to win because the more trophies you win in your career the better. I’m still at such a young age, so adding more trophies at this club is a great thing.”
O’Riley knows the untold misery that had befallen the Celtic supporters the season before he arrived from English football, and the Danish U21 cap has revealed that he wants to do it for the swathes of hoops fanatics worldwide; including the mass of green and white at Hampden. He said: “That will be great. Every little helps in terms of fans and we know that from playing in front of 60,000 every home game.
“In the season before last, there were tough times for the fans. Now we’ve brought the club back into a good place we want to do it for them mainly. Our preparation for the game stays the same. The last game against Aberdeen was a good response and a performance that we usually provide. Training has been the same throughout the season and we are very relentless in every session and we demand a lot from each other, so that’s the aim every day.”
Paul Gillespie
