TOM ROGIC, pulled out of this afternoon’s game at Ibrox by the Australian Football Federation, is likely to RESTED by his country for their final warm-up match before the Asian Cup.
The Hoops made a late plea for the influential midfielder to be allowed to remain until after the meeting with Steven Gerrard’s side.
However, the Aussies insisted Rogic, under FIFA regulations, had to quit Brendan Rodgers’ squad following the 4-3 midweek win over Aberdeen at Pittodrie.
The playmaker posted a social media message to apologise to Celtic fans for missing today’s match and admitted the decision had been taken out of his hands, as CQN reported yesterday.
The Aussies face Oman tomorrow in their final friendly before the start of the tournament in the United Arab Emirates in January, but manager Graham Arnold has revealed that Rogic may not now even be used at any stage of the game.
He plans on making sure his star man is in 100 per cent condition for the competition’s kick-off.
Arnold said: “I’m looking to get some minutes for those players who haven’t had much involvement at their clubs recently.
“The position with Tom is that it’s all over now. He’s here and he’s happy.
“Of course, he wanted to play in the Old Firm derby and that’s completely understandable, but you can’t please everyone.
“I would also point out that I had a couple of phone calls from other managers to thank me for letting the players stay behind and play that one extra match to help them win games, so I made a lot of managers happy.
“All I can say is that the whole situation was explained well in advance and at the same time I had one rule and I saw that as the fairest way.”
* DON’T miss in the unbeatable match report from this afternoon’s encounter at Ibrox – in your champion CQN.
