Celtic man downs teammate in 88-year World Cup first as ex-Rangers man produces magic moment in Philadelphia

Nygren, 24, was named in the starting XI for his national side alongside former Hoops defender Gustaf Lagerbielke just weeks after his 21-goal haul helped Celtic win a league and Scottish cup double, as Sweden scored five goals at a World Cup for the first time in 88 years by thrashing Sabri Lamouchi’s side.

Tunisia, who included Celtic’s Sebastian Tounekti on their substitutes bench, got off to the worst possible start when Yasin Ayari put Sweden into a seventh-minute lead, before Liverpool’s Alexander Isak doubled their lead on the half-hour mark with a fine strike from the edge of the area.

Omar Rekik reduced the deficit on the stroke of half-time with a deft header, only for Viktor Gyokeres to restore Sweden’s lead on the hour mark when he tapped home from inside the area after Isak had capitalised on some slack defending from Ellyes Skhiri to put the Arsenal hitman clean through on goal.

Nygren was then replaced by Lucas Bergvall for the final 25 minutes of the clash, while Tounekti was introduced to the action shortly afterwards for Tunisia. However, the Celtic winger could not swing the game back into his side’s favour as substitute Mattias Svanberg made it 4-1 with his first touch of the ball. Ayari added a fifth in the sixth minute of injury time with a thumping right-foot drive.

Elsewhere, Nygren’s Celtic teammate, Daizen Maeda, played 66 minutes of Japan’s Group F opener with the Netherlands in Dallas. The diminutive striker was handed a starting berth on the left wing as the Samurai Blue rescued a deserved draw thanks to a goal from Daichi Kamada in the 88th minute of the game.

Maeda’s side were forced to come from behind twice, with Keito Nakamura cancelling out ex-Celtic defender Virgil van Dijk’s 50th-minute opener just before the hour mark. West Ham United’s Crysencio Summerville restored the lead on 64 minutes, only for Kamada to strike in the dying embers of the game when his deflected header went Dutch stopper Bart Verbruggen.

Meanwhile, in Group E, former Rangers loanee Amad Diallo produced a moment of magic in the final minute to help Ivory Coast edge out Ecuador at the Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia in the early hours of Monday morning. The Manchester United attacker, who spent the second half of the 2021/22 season on loan at Ibrox, connected wonderfully to Wilfried Singo’s cross in the final minute of the game to fire a left-footed drive into the bottom corner.

The victory was Ivory Coast’s first at the World Cup in 12 years, and puts them second in the group after the first round of fixtures behind Germany, who themselves thumped Curacao 7-1 at the NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas earlier in the day.

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