SEVEN of the Celtic squad named by Brendan Rodgers when the champions last played Aberdeen at Parkhead will be missing from the Hoops’ pool of players when the Dons visit on Saturday.
There has been a remarkable turnover in the playing staff in such a short space of time in the east end of Glasgow.
The Pittodrie club provided the opposition on November 12 last year, just five days after Rodgers’ side had been trounced 6-0 by Atletico Madrid in the Spanish capital in a lopsided Champions League encounter.
CHEERS AND CHEERIO…David Turnbull, now with Cardiff City, celebrates a Celtic goal.
Celtic’s cause wasn’t helped that evening with having to cope with only 10 men for more than an hour following an absurd red card for Daizen Maeda.
However, the team responded superbly to the mauling in Madrid by administering their own six-goal pummelling at Parkhead.
It was a splendid all-round performance by the hosts as they continued on course for their third successive title and twelfth crown in 13 years.
In the space of 11 months, seven of the squad will not be available to lock horns with the north-east outfit in the top-of-the-table confrontation this time around.
TWO FOR THE ROAD…retired keeper Joe Hart and South Korean striker Oh Hyeon-gyu who switched to Belgian club Genk in the summer.
They are:
RETIRED: Joe Hart.
SOLD: Matt O’Riley (£26m Brighton), David Turnbull (£3m Cardiff City), Oh Hyeon-gyu (£2m Genk), Tomoki Iwata (£1m Birmingham City).
LOANED: Alexandro Bernabei (SC Nacional, Brazil).
RETURNED: Nat Phillips (Liverpool, loan expired).
The line-up at kick-off was: Hart; Johnston, Carter-Vickers, Scales, Taylor; Holm, McGregor, O’Riley; Yang, Kyogo and Palma.
The substitutes: Bain, Ralston, Phillips, Turnbull, Oh, Bernabei, Iwata, Bernardo and Forrest.
Goalscorers: Oh (2), Yang, Kyogo, Palma (pen) and Turnbull.
