Celtic international watch: Juranovic catches the eye and Rogic runs the show

Here’s how the crop from Parkhead have fared so far for their national sides.

Callum McGregor, Ryan Christie, David Turnbull (Scotland)

The midfield trio all featured in Scotland’s 2-0 defeat to Denmark on Wednesday night but McGregor is the only one who could be said to have played a significant role in the loss in Copenhagen. The Celtic skipper was the only one to start the game and although he was his usual metronomic self – his passing accuracy of 90.8 per cent was the highest of any of Steve Clarke’s players – a pot-shot in the second half was the closest he came to reducing the arrears. Christie was brought on with 20 minutes to go and Turnbull got the last five minutes, but neither were able to turn the tide.

Nir Bitton, Liel Abada (Israel)

The former started in defence in Israel’s 4-0 trouncing of the Faroe Islands on the road but in truth, the 29-year-old wasn’t seriously tested in the World Cup qualifier. He only completed one interception, made two clearances and blocked a solitary shot – and not completing a single tackle – but Celtic fans can be encouraged by the 83 minutes of game-time Bitton got under his belt.

Add to that Abada’s superb assist right at the death to seal Eran Zahavi’s hat-trick – after coming off the bench with seven minutes of normal time left to play, the winger scarpered forward and combined superbly with the striker in the 92nd minute – and Celtic supporters will find plenty of reasons to be cheerful from the pair’s performance, albeit against limited opposition.

Josip Juranovic (Croatia)

The recent arrival made his Celtic debut at left-back in last weekend’s 1-0 defeat at Ibrox but the 26-year-old was back in familiar territory on the right side of defence for his country on Wednesday night. Juranovic played the full 90 minutes in Croatia’s goalless draw with Russia but has every reason to be pleased with his performance.

The £2.5million signing from Legia Warsaw gave a good account of himself in the Moscow stalemate, with football statistics site WhoScored giving the full-back a 7.6 rating – only narrowly behind is compatriot Mateo Kovacic (7.7) and Russia centre-half Igor Diveev (7.8).

Juranovic played two key passes – passes that lead directly to a shot – and only Russian defender Georgi Dzhikiya could match his total of successful interceptions (four). All in all, a very promising day at the office.

Kyogo Furuhashi (Japan)

The 26-year-old has hit the ground running for his new club since arriving from Vissel Kobe in the J-League earlier this summer, scoring seven goals in nine outings since pitching up at Parkhead, but the forward had to make to with a place as a substitute as Japan slipped to a 1-0 defeat at home to Oman.

With the game goalless going into the break, Furuhashi clambered off the bench for the second half in place of Union Berlin’s Genki Haraguchi at left wing but was unable to fashion a breakthrough. Oman defended resiliently and with barely a minute left to play, Issam Al Sabhi volleyed home a winner to stun the hosts.

Tom Rogic (Australia)

The playmaker lasted until the 87th minute of Australia’s 3-0 victory over China, and the 28-year-old had every reason to be pleased with his performance for his country.

A well-executed through ball to Hibernian’s Martin Boyle led to a second goal for the Socceroos going into the break and Rogic was unfortunate not to end up on the scoresheet himself after stinging the palms of China goalkeeper Yan Junling with a drilled effort from the edge of the area towards the end of the first half.

Rogic had a hand in the decisive third, too: the midfielder slipped through Awer Mabil and although the initial effort was repelled by Junling, Mitchell Duke was at hand to prod the ball home into an empty net to wrap up the win.

Did not play: Carl Starfelt (Sweden), Conor Hazard (Northern Ireland).