Last week’s Viaplay Cup success was a special moment for Sead Haksabanovic as the winger lifted his first trophy as a Celtic player but the Montenegrin attacker admits that the match was tinged with disappointment on a personal level after he failed to get on the scoresheet.
The forward was presented with two clear-cut opportunities late on at Hampden – his first effort was dragged wide of the far post and the second was saved by Allan McGregor – to put the result beyond doubt but his side claimed the silverware nonetheless.
Haksabanovic and his team-mates will make the short trip to St Mirren this afternoon on league duty and while he is pleased to have helped the team to the first available trophy of the season, he admits to feeling a little frustrated that he didn’t manage to get in on the act against Rangers.
“The team is still hungry and we want to win more and we are focusing on that now when we play against St Mirren,” he said.
“It’s always a nice feeling [to win trophies] and I am very happy for me and the team and for my family. My memories will be of just celebrating with the team, having fun and being happy with the boys. That's lovely. I would have a better memory if I'd scored...”
The 23-year-old has found himself in and out of the team during his debut campaign in Scotland and he is firmly of the belief that supporters are still to see the best of him.
Haksabanovic continued: “I am never happy, even if I score 10 goals or something like that. Of course there's more to come. I was unlucky not to score against Rangers in the League Cup but I don't get down, I focus on the next game and hopefully I can show my best there and score a goal or something.”
The Japanese contingent at Celtic became a little bigger earlier this year when Yuki Kobayashi and Tomoki Iwata joined the club where compatriots Kyogo Furuhashi, Daizen Maeda and Reo Hatate already ply their trade.
It would be understandable for players moving from one side of the world to the other to stick together while they acclimatise to their new surroundings but Haksabanovic insists the dressing room at Parkhead isn’t divided into such cliques.
“They are jokers, they are friendly, they get along with everyone in the team, they try to speak English and speak to everyone,” Haksabanovic said of his Japanese team-mates.
“I don't really see them as Japanese because they are so good in the team and they don’t show that they are in a group of only Japanese players. They always go with different players and don’t stay as a group.”
