Celtic will be without a growing band of first team stars including the club captain Callum McGregor for tomorrow’s Europa League Group stages opener against Real Betis.
The Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou has confirmed that McGregor picked up a knock in the 3-0 win over Ross County at the weekend and will not make the trip to Seville. Also missing from Saturday’s starting eleven will be left back Greg Taylor who will be out for a lengthy period of time as he awaits surgery on his shoulder injury and also Liel Abada, who misses the match due to religious reasons.
James Forrest is still a week to ten days away from a return while new signing Georgios Giakoumakis isn’t yet up to speed in terms of fitness after missing his pre-season at his former club VVV Venlo. Japanese star Kyogo is already on the sidelines for a month or so after picking a knee injury while on International duty.
On the plus side, Anthony Ralston is now back in the squad after his mysterious absence following the international break – indeed Steve Clarke hinted that there was a medical issue with Ralston that prevented him naming the in-form Celtic right back as a late call-up for the World Cup match in Vienna.
Greg Taylor needs shoulder surgery so will be out for a while. James Forrest should return to full training in “next 7-10 days”
— Alison Conroy (@AlisonGConroy) September 15, 2021
A possible Celtic team could look something like this tomorrow evening:
Hart, Ralston, Starfelt, Carter-Vickers, Montgomery, Juranovic, McCarthy, Rogic, Turnbull, Jota and Ajeti.
The Celtic bench will be rather weak to say the least with Bain, Soro, Urhoghide, Shaw and Welsh plus some academy players.
