JAPANESE international midfielder Yosuke Ideguchi has been left out of Celtic’s Champions League squad.
There is no sign of the unlucky anchorman who arrived along with Reo Hatate and Daizen Maeda in Ange Postecoglou’s triple swoop on the J-League at the turn of the year.
Ideguchi was injured in his first start in the Scottish Cup-tie at Alloa in February and has been sidelined again since the start of the term after sustaining a knock in training. He has just returned to Lennoxtown.
However, new Bhoy Oliver Abildgaard, signed on loan from Rubin Kazan during the week, is in Postecoglou’s 25-man squad which will be tasked with winning through the Group F stages of Europe’s elite competition with Real Madrid, Shakhtar Donetsk and RB Leipzig in contention.
EURO IN…Oliver Abildgaard has been included in Ange Postecoglou’s 25-man Champions League squad.
UEFA rules insist eight spots in the squad must go to “locally trained players” who fall into two categories; those who were on the clubs books for three years between the ages of 15 and 21 and those who were at club in the same association for the same period at the same ages.
Of those eight locally trained players, a maximum of four can be association trained players. The Hoops fulfilled the quota with the inclusion of Scott Bain, Stephen Welsh, Greg Taylor, Anthony Ralston, Callum McGregor, James McCarthy, David Turnbull and James Forrest.
Given the strength-in-depth of midfielders, Ideguchi has been an unfortunate omission.
Celtic kick off their Euro bid with a glamour meeting with holders Real Madrid at Parkhead on Tuesday night.
FULL SQUAD
GOALKEEPERS
Joe Hart, Benji Siegrist, Scott Bain;
DEFENDERS
Josip Juranovic, Anthony Ralston, Cameron Carter-Vickers, Carl Starfelt, Moritz Jenz, Stephen Welsh, Greg Taylor, Alexandro Bernabei;
MIDFIELDERS
Callum McGregor, Reo Hatate, Matt O’Riley, David Turnbull, Aaron Mooy, James McCarthy, Oliver Abildgaard;
FORWARDS
Liel Abada, James Forrest, Kyogo Furuhashi, Giorgos Giakoumakis, Filipe Jota, Daizen Maeda and Sead Haksabanovic.
