Sead Haksabanovic insists he’s ready to be let off the leash as Celtic face a Scottish Cup sweat over Daizen Maeda.
The Montenegrin winger slotted a stunner in Wednesday night’s 3-1 Premiership win against Hearts and he’d love another crack at the Jambos in tomorrow’s last eight showdown at Tynecastle. Maeda suffered a knee injury when scoring Celtic’s opener the other night and is struggling to make the Gorgie clash, while fellow wide man James Forrest is facing several weeks out after being crocked in training.
Haksabanovic has had to bide his time since coming back from a spell out before the New Year but is banging on the door after a series of impressive cameo appearances. The 23-year-old former Rubin Kazan attacker is happy to play his part whenever called on by boss Ange Postecoglou. But Haksabanovic insisted he’s ready to roll if his gaffer throws him into the Tynecastle cauldron. He said: “I want to play every game. I’m not going to say I don’t want to play. But I also know we have great players in this team. If I don’t play, then I don’t play, but I know I am going to focus on coming in.
“I have to be ready for when I start. The key at the moment is this is a young squad and everyone wants to get their chance to prove themselves.
“We all know we can put any player out there and they will do great. Whoever starts is up to the manager, we just want to do our work and show what we can do on the training ground and on the pitch.”
Haksabanovic was thrilled with his stunning strike to make it 3-1 in the vital league win as the Hoops kept their foot down in the title race. The Scottish Cup is now in their sights and the winger is determined to make an impact.
Haksabanovic said: “It was on my mind to shoot .I knew before I got the ball I was going to go inside and try to score. I was very happy with the goal. I have been getting closer.
"I was close a couple of times against Rangers and now I have scored. Hopefully now I can keep doing it, I’ll take it one game at a time and it doesn’t matter if I get five minutes, get half an hour or I start, I want to do my stuff and show that I want to play in this team.
“I’m just going out there and enjoying myself. I think I showed that on Wednesday.”
