BRENDAN RODGERS faces a quadruple injury crisis as he prepares for Celtic’s crucial Premiership encounter against Premiership pacesetters Hearts at Tynecastle on Sunday.
The Hoops boss could be without Daizen Maeda, Alistair Johnston, Kelechi Iheanacho and Cameron Carter-Vickers for the challenging confrontation against the Edinburgh club that are five points clear after eight games.
The champions endured a stamina-sapping Europa League clash with the tough Austrians of Sturm Graz before coming off the ropes to claim a vital 2-1 win for their first success in the European battlefield at the fifth attempt.
SAD…Alistair Johnston is enduring a tough time with hamstring problems.
However, the victory came at a price with Johnston and Iheanacho both limping off inside the half-hour mark and the Canadian international right-back and the Nigerian striker must be rated extremely doubtful for the match in the capital.
Carter-Vickers remained on the pitch for the entire 90 minutes, but was obviously in discomfort near the end and collapsed at the final whistle. The central defender had to be helped to the dressing room by physio Tim Williamson.
Maeda, last season’s 33-goal hero, watched the action from the stand after missing the previous weekend’s 2-0 loss to Dundee at Dens Park.
The Japanese speedster could be out again which would leave Rodgers with a severely depleted squad for the trip to Gorgie for the midday kick-off.
DOWN AND POSSIBLY OUT…Cameron Carter-Vickers is a doubt for Tynecastle.
Reflecting on the double first-half setback to Iheanacho and Johnston, the Hoops gaffer said: “They didn’t look good.
“We’ll see what that is, but it looks like hamstring which isn’t great.
“We wanted to take off Cameron, but we could only make one substitution in the second-half. Ideally, we would have taken him off, so we’ll see what he’s like when he comes in the morning.”
Rodgers, speaking to the Daily Record, added: “I’m not worried about that. I’m really only worried about how we played against Sturm Graz.
“That’s our focus. We’ll see what it is in the morning. If they’re not available, you’ve seen the level that young Colby came in and performed and grew into the game.
“He was very good. Johnny came in and worked really, really hard.
“So, yes, we just have to accept if we have injuries.”
