Brendan Rodgers has provided a key squad update ahead of Sunday’s Glasgow Derby showdown at Ibrox, with several big names facing mixed fortunes.
The headline news is the long-term absence of Jota. The Portuguese winger will be sidelined for six to nine months with a serious knee injury sustained during last weekend’s title-sealing win at Dundee United. It’s a crushing blow for both the player and the team as Celtic look ahead to a Scottish Cup final and another European campaign.
On a more positive note, both Daizen Maeda and Nicolas Kuhn are expected to be fit for the clash against Rangers. The pair missed training on Friday but are on track to be included in the matchday squad.
However, there’s disappointment on the defensive front with Alistair Johnston ruled out of the derby. Rodgers has confirmed the Canadian is being managed carefully in order to be fully fit for the upcoming Scottish Cup final at Hampden.
Brendan Rodgers told CeltsAreHere: “We’ve got a few knocks, so obviously Jota will be out and sadly for us and for him he’ll be out for a period of time, probably six to nine months. Obviously it’s the cruitiate and it was worse than we’d hoped really. So he starts on his journey of recovery from that now, but somewhere between six and nine months it’ll be.
“Ali Johnson won’t be available. Ali’s been needing an injection into his hip that he’s had for a period of time to ensure he was ready for the cup final and in enough preparation we decided that we would do that after the Dundee United game. So that puts him out of the game at the weekend and most probably the Southampton game and that gives him a few weeks then to be ready and available for the cup final.
“Dane Murray, Dane had had an issue with his knee and he’ll be out for the rest of the season and then be ready for pre-season. And who else have we got? Yang is back. Yang is back training with the squad so we’ll give him one more day tomorrow and then we’ll see if he’s going to be available for the squad.
“Yes, Daizen should be fine and Nicolas was out. We’re just assessing him and a slight issue with his knee but he should be okay. We had the scan on that, it’s just a little bit of bruising but he should be okay.”
Meanwhile, Yang Hyun-jun returns to the squad after recovering from a knock that had him in a sling just a few weeks ago.
Celtic will head to Ibrox looking for their first derby win of 2025, with 2,000 away fans backing the newly-crowned champions in Govan.
As long as they make the Southampton game we should be fine 🥴