It’s been a case of good news and bad so far for Celtic’s international contingent today. Let’s start with the good news shall we?
The good news was Reo Hatate’s first cap for Japan saw the Celtic midfielder play 45 minutes for Hajime Moriyasu’s side in their final dead rubber qualifier against Vietnam before what appears to have been a tactical substitution for Junya Ito, saw Hatate replaced at half-time, rather than any concern over an injury.
And whilst Reo Hatate will be hoping he’s done enough to impress his manager ahead of the upcoming World Cup in Qatar – for which Japan qualified with a win against Australia last week – and will now head back to Scotland to focus on Ange Postecoglou’s preparations for Sunday’s Glasgow Derby, for Stephen Welsh however, the bad news is the Scotland Under-21 skipper had to leave the field of play early in the first half with what appears to be a groin injury, picked up during Scotland Under 21’s 2-2 draw with Kazakhstan, a game in which Scott Gemmill’s side had held a 2-0 lead before being pegged back in a game played in dreadful conditions.
As such it now very much looks like Welsh will be a doubt for this weekend’s visit to Ibrox.
It was possibly unlikely Welsh would have started against theRangers on Sunday, however, Postecoglou would have viewed him as very much an important part of the match-day squad. Celtic have limited options in central defence and after Carl Starfelt and Cameron-Carter Vickers, Welsh has been viewed by the Celtic manager as very much the next in line to start.
Should Welsh not be fit enough to make the squad on Sunday, it will mean Christopher Jullien is likely to be next in line, yet the Frenchman hasn’t started a game for Celtic since December 2020, although he has been used as a substitute and played and scored in a behind closed doors friendly win over Motherwell last weekend.
Niall J
