ODSONNE EDOUARD, who limped off in the landslide 4-1 Europa League play-off triumph over AIK Stockholm last night, WILL be fit for Ibrox on Sunday.
There were fears the French ace would be out of the first Glasgow derby of the campaign, but the £10million striker insisted he would be good to go against Steven Gerrard’s outfit.
Edouard looked in obvious distress as he came off the pitch in the 76th minute to be replaced by Vakoun Issouf Bayo, as reported in the CQN match summary.
However, the classy attacke-leader, speaking to the Daily Mail, said: “It’s okay. it’s no problem. I will be 100 per cent for Sunday.”
The Hoops, 2-0 ahead from the first leg in Glasgow last week, eventually coasted through on a 6-1 aggregate with James Forrest again producing a Man of the Match performance and scoring the crucial opening goal after the Swedes had struck Craig Gordon’s upright inside two minutes.
Seb Larsson made it 1-1 on the night with a dodgy penalty-kick, but Mikey Johnston replied with a mazy run and finish while there were late efforts from Christopher Jullien – his first for the club – and substitute Lewis Morgan to make certain Neil Lennon’s men would be in the group stages ballot in Monaco this afternoon.
Kristoffer Ajer also limped off early in proceedings with a groin injury while right-back Hatem Abd Elhamed faces two weeks on the sidelines with a hairline fracture.
New loan signing Moritz Bauer, from Stoke City, is now poised for a debut on Sunday.
Lennon said: “We will assess how Kris is for Sunday, but he will be doubtful. Odsonne came off with cramp, so he should be absolutely fine, which is good news for us because he’s such an important player.
“Ajer is a groin strain. He was just feeling it when he was running and he’s the type of player who won’t come off easily.
“He was worrying about it deteriorating. We will assess him tomorrow and on Saturday because again he is such a huge presence on the pitch.”
Asked if he could strengthen his squad before the Monday midnight deadline, Lennon answered: “Hopefully. We have Moritz Bauer in now and he may come into contention for Ibrox with Kristoffer struggling.
“Hatem we will have to assess, but he has been very sore with a slight hairline fracture.
“We have to assess him but sometimes it can take a couple of weeks to recover from something like that. We will look to add before the window shuts and, hopefully, move a couple of players out, as well.”
