FILIPE JOTA has failed an eleventh-hour fitness test and is OUT of the Celtic team to face RB Leipzig at Parkhead this evening.
The Portuguese winger was taken off at half-time in the weekend win over St Johnstone in Perth with manager Ange Postecoglou citing “fatigue”.
Jota, though, also sustained an injury which will keep him on the sidelines for the Champions League Group F confrontation against the Bundesliga outfit under the lights in the east end of Glasgow.
WAITING IN THE WINGS…Giorgos Giakoumakis is in the stand-by squad after his stoppage-time scoring heroics in Perth at the weekend.
Giorgos Giakoumakis, who netted the stoppage-time points-clincher against the Saints, drops onto the substitutes’ bench with Kyogo Furuhashi returning to lead the line.
Josip Juranovic, Greg Taylor and Moritz Jenz also return to the starting line-up in place of Anthony Ralston, Alexandro Bernabei and Stephen Welsh who are among the stand-by squad.
The Hoops go into the encounter looking for their first victory after losses to Real Madrid and the German club while picking up a point in the draw with Shakhtar Donetsk in Warsaw.
TEAM: Hart; Juranovic, Carter-Vickers, Jenz, Taylor; O’Riley, Hatate, Haksabanovic; Abada, Kyogo, Maeda. Subs: Bain, Siegrist, Giakoumakis, Mooy, Turnbull, McCarthy, Bernabei, Abildgaard, Robertson, Forrest, Ralston, Welsh.
* DON’T miss the unbeatable match report from Celtic v RB Leipzig this evening – only in your champion CQN.