Socceroos midfielder, Aaron Mooy opened his goalscoring account for Celtic with a brace in a 4-0 Scottish Premiership victory over Hibernian at Easter Road on Thursday morning (AEDT).
The 32-year-old put in a man-of-the-match performance in the centre of the park as the Bhoys maintained their nine-point advantage at the top of the league standings.
Mooy slammed home the opener with a first-time finish in the 28th minute after the Hibs defence failed to clear Daizen Maeda’s cross before notching his second of the evening from the penalty spot early in the second half.
Thursday's brace comes after Mooy grabbed an assist for a Reo Hatate goal in a 4-1 win over St. Johnstone on Christmas eve in what has been a productive festive period for the midfielder.
Speaking to Celtic TV post-match, the midfielder who started all four of the Socceroos matches at the World Cup said he was delighted to get off the mark for Celtic.
“It’s an amazing feeling to get my first goals for the club. I’ve had a few chances in other games but it feels great to see one hit the net,” Mooy said.
“You don’t score goals unless you get into those positions, so I try and take that on board and get in position and hit the targets, and one of them went in tonight.
“I have been (a penalty taker) in the past for different clubs, although not for a while, so it was good.
“Hopefully I’m improving all the time. That’s what you want to do. Obviously, when you join everything’s new, and systems are a bit different, and new players, so it’s a lot and sometimes it doesn’t always happen straight away.
“But you just keep going and keep trying to get better and hopefully I can keep improving and help the team.
“Playing in the World Cup – leading up to it, it was always in the back of your head, because you just want to get into that squad and experience it again for me, because that was my second one.
“It’s an amazing thing to do and I’m proud of that, but it’s behind me now and now I’m just looking forward to trying to help the team.”
Next up for Mooy and Celtic is clash against Rangers in the Old Firm derby at Ibrox on Monday, January 2 (11:30pm AEDT Kick Off).