Aaron Mooy has been hailed for his exceptional post-World Cup form by his old Socceroos’ mentor Ange Postecoglou while the modest midfielder shrugged off his man-of-the-match display in Celtic’s Scottish Cup destruction of Morton.
After a slow start to life at Parkhead, Mooy continues to improve seemingly with every match and Postecoglou was left saluting him after his one-time international charge scored twice to bookend the Scottish champions’ 5-0 stroll into the fifth round.
Man of the match: Aaron Mooy starred for Celtic.Credit:Getty Images
It ended an excellent week for the much-travelled thoroughbred Mooy, who celebrated reaching his first final with Celtic last weekend with another fine performance in the League Cup semi-final win over Kilmarnock.
“Since the World Cup, Aaron has been outstanding for us,” said Postecoglou, whose signing of Mooy on a free transfer increasingly looks one of his best pieces of business.
But the 32-year-old was quick to play down the accolades after being hailed as man of the match.
“It is about the team, it is not about me,” he shrugged on BBC Scotland. “I am part of the team, and when I play I try to help the team.
“It was a good performance from everyone and a nice way to end the week.
“You can always improve and get better and get fitter. I feel good and feel like I can help by working hard and getting better.”
Mooy, who’s not the most prolific of goalscorers but also scored twice against Hibs just after Christmas, kicked off Celtic’s nap hand of goals against Morton with a controversial penalty after 18 minutes.
A soft verdict of handball against former Celtic defender Efe Ambrose left Morton’s boss Dougie Imrie raging that VAR was killing soccer – but Mooy ignored the clamour once the spot kick was awarded to send the keeper the wrong way.
“I waited a long time to take the penalty – but the longer it went on, the more chance I thought it would be given,” said Mooy.
He finished the job in the 84th minute too, after Kyogo Furuhashi had also netted a double for Celtic, taking his tally for the season to 20.
And Mooy wasn’t the only Socceroo to score on Cup weekend as Aziz Behich proved one of Dundee United’s party poopers, scoring at Tannadice in the 3-0 defeat of the University of Stirling.
The students, backed by 1000 travelling fans, kept the romance going in the tie for 44 minutes before full-back Behich broke the deadlock.
