RYAN CHRISTIE is ready to return to Celtic’s midfield for the Europa League Group H encounter against AC Milan at Parkhead tonight.
The playmaker missed the weekend loss to Steven Gerrard’s Ibrox outfit after government red tape sidelined him following his strict 14-day isolation period after coming in contact with Scotland international team-mate Stuart Armstrong who tested positive for coronavirus before the Europa play-off semi-final against Israel.
Ironically, Nir Bitton and Hatem Abd Elhamed, who played for the opposition as the Scots won 5-3 on penalty-kicks, also fell foul of the virus and sat out the Premiership game and they will also be missing against the Serie A leaders.
Odsonne Edouard, also a victim of Covid-19 while on duty with the France Under-21 squad in Paris, is another casualty who has been omitted from Neil Lennon’s provisional squad for the match against Swedish superstar Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Co who arrived in Glasgow last night.
They sit on top of the league with four wins out of four and Stefano Pioli’s team go into the action in the east end of Glasgow on the back of a confidence-boosting 2-1 victory over city rivals Inter at the San Siro on Saturday.
French centre-back Christopher Jullien has also been ruled out again with his back complaint.
SQUAD:
GOALKEEPERS: Vasilis Barkas, Scott Bain, Conor Hazard;
DEFENDERS: Jeremie Frimpong, Stephen Welsh, Shane Duffy, Kristoffer Ajer, Greg Taylor, Diego Laxalt;
MIDFIELDERS: Scott Brown, Olivier Ntcham, David Turnbull, Tom Rogic, Callum McGregor, Ryan Christie, Ismaila Soro;
FORWARDS: Leigh Griffiths, Albian Ajeti, Patryk Klimala and Mohamed Elyounoussi.
* DON’T miss the unbeatable match report from Celtic v AC Milan this evening – only in your champion CQN.
