IT was pretty much certain that Moussa Dembele would not feature in the matches against AEK Athens – if Celtic got through against Rosenborg.
Well Celtic did get through – reasonably comfortably in the end – and now Brendan Rodgers has confirmed that we will have to beat the Greek Champions without our main man upfront.
Silver lining in all of this is that Dembele’s on-going troubles with his hamstring is sure to put off any potential suitors in the transfer window – so if we can get him fit in a few weeks, we should have all three of our strikers ready for the Play off round.
Celtic played 8 matches in the European Cup in 1967 to earn a place in the Final against Inter Milan.
In 2018 we have to play 8 games just to reach the Group stages.
“The medical guys are telling me it is probably going to be another two to three weeks, a bit longer than we had anticipated. It’s a blow, but that is the way it is,” Brendan confirmed the situation on the Dembele hamstring while acknowledging that he will have his other injury prone striker Leigh Griffiths available for tomorrow’s visit from Livingston.
“Leigh will be back in the squad. He has been out for a while and needs to get his fitness up. He has been working hard at trying to get that up. We have kept him behind to work on that side. He will be in the squad for the weekend hopefully,” Brendan said.
Was the next bit an indication that he is beginning to lose patience with Griffiths who has been in and out of the squad due to injuries pretty much for the entire time Rodgers has been Celtic manager.
“Do I have to manage Leigh’s fitness? Not really. The responsibility is always with the player. My job is very easy. I pick the players who are fit and fighting.
“Unfortunately if you are injured you can’t help it. That is their responsibility. You can’t keep looking at managers and coaches.
“Players must take responsibility for their fitness, and their willingness to make themselves available.”
Rodgers also confirmed that the squad will benefit from the return of Belgium star Dedryck Boyata, adding to the return to action from Sweden’s Mikael Lustig as a substitute for Kieran Tierney on Wednesday night.
“We will see where we are at next week. Dedryck looks great, he looks physically strong, but it is about managing that.
“Mikael has been back in for a few weeks. It is that period where you are trying to win big games, but you have to be mindful you need to get the guys in your squad up to some sort of match speed.
“That is the balance between league games and the Champions League matches — to try and maximise what we get out of them all.”
