Is Reo Hatate finally coming to the boil at the right time after a lacklustre season? Celtic skipper Callum McGregor thinks so…

Celtic captain Callum McGregor believes a revitalised Reo Hatate could yet have a major influence in the outcome of this season’s title race.

A key player in the Parkhead club’s midfield over the past few years, Hatate’s lacklustre performances have been widely criticised for much of the season.

There have even been some suggestions that the Japanese international has mentally checked out ahead of a probable departure in the summer.

But Hatate was instrumental in the 1-0 win away at Stuttgart in the Europa League last week, before coming off the bench at half-time on Sunday and inspiring Celtic to claim a point in a 2-2 draw at Ibrox.

The 28-year-old was terrific in the second half, bringing a sense of composure and guile to the midfield, before scoring the last-gasp equaliser.

Praising Hatate as a ‘special’ talent, Parkhead skipper McGregor believes he will be a major asset in the title race if he can maintain his best form.

‘Reo was outstanding in the second half,’ said McGregor. ‘He knows the way we want to play, the little patterns, the little cues to come short and when to link the game and then when to run behind.

‘He was excellent when he came on. I thought he was excellent in Stuttgart as well. He was very, very good and the subs probably changed the game for us on Sunday.

‘He’s a player that can do special things. When he comes on and plays like he did on Sunday, he’s a real high-level player. You have to stay on top of him all the time to get the best out him.

‘And I think the last two games, Stuttgart, at Ibrox, he’s been outstanding. So if that’s him just starting to creep in terms of levels, that can only be a good thing.

‘For sure, we will need everyone at their best, but especially a player like him. He’s a special player and, if you can get him firing, then he’s a real asset.’

Trailing 2-0 at half-time against a Rangers team who dominated the first half, Celtic could have been staring down the barrel of a heavy defeat.

But they were able to dig deep and showed great resilience to fight back to claim a point, with Hatate netting the late leveller at the third attempt after initially missing a penalty.

McGregor admits that they can’t continue to give themselves mountains to climb, but he believes they showed the spirit of champions.

‘At 2-0 down, with their fans going crazy, it’s a tough place to come,’ said the Celtic skipper. ‘That’s not an easy situation, but full credit to the boys for the second half.

‘Maybe the last four or five weeks it [mental strength] has been quite evident. Football’s not easy. It never goes to plan a lot of the time as well.

‘You can plan for things, but in the moments where you’re up against it, you need characters, you need personality to take the ball and play your way back into the game. There’s no better place to do that than Ibrox.

‘It shows everyone that you know we’re right in this, obviously with a game in hand which hopefully will nudge us closer as well and then we charge down these last sort of eight games and see where we can get to.

‘I think that has been evident obviously over the last sort of four or five weeks with the late goals and everything else.

‘Obviously we’d probably like to not be putting ourselves in those positions, but like I said the game’s never perfect and it just shows you the team are still fighting.

‘We believe in where we want to get to and it’s that attitude where you never know when you’re beat. We got the equalizer again on Sunday, which on the face of it looks like a really good point.

‘We know Ibrox was rocking a few weeks ago when they beat Hearts and you could tell the club and everybody fancied it, so it was trying to get through that first 20 minutes and hopefully we could turn the atmosphere.

‘Obviously what we’ve ended up doing in the end of the game is kind of nudged it towards our favour a little bit. We have to try and capitalize on that.

‘We know we’ve got a Scottish Cup game to come at the end of the week, at the same venue against the same opponent, and we want to try and feed into that as much as we can.

‘Obviously we will have a full stand as well and it’s just little moments like that that can hopefully turn the momentum in your favour.

‘That’s where we need to be as well, but the boys showed every bit of character that they’ve got in there and it was a really good point in the end.’