A CLEARLY emotional Brendan Rodgers confirmed Reo Hatate will MISS the Scottish Cup Final against Aberdeen a week tomorrow.
The Celtic boss was raging when the Japanese midfielder was injured in a “needless challenge” by Dons Pape Gueye in the fading moments of the champions’ 5-1 win at Pittodrie in midweek.
Rodgers accused the opponent of losing his head as he lashed out with a wayward kick at the ball that left Hatate grounded with the velocity of the movement.
The midfielder was foced to sit out the remainder of the action with an ice pack on his right knee and the Hoops gaffer made the announcement that everyone feared that the fans’ favourite would be sidelined on Flag Day against St Mirren tomorrow and the Hampden showpiece.
DOWN AND OUT…a shocked Reo Hatate is grounded after wayward kick-out by Dons stiker Pape Gueye.
Rodgers said: “Reo will miss the last two games, sadly for him and for us.
“He’s had a fantastic season in terms of availability. It’s 55 games he’s been involved in and it’s just such a shame he’ll miss these last couple of games.
“You are probably talking that he’ll be okay for the beginning of pre-season, but it’s just a shame for us and even more so for him that he misses these two games.”
Rodgers, speaking to Celtic TV, continued: “I said at the time, I thought it was a needless challenge. Everyone knew it was a free-kick and he’s just there to stop the ball from running away.
“For that to happen in those circumstances, it’s not nice.”
On the team picking up the Premiership silverware for the fourth successive campaign and the thirteenth time in 14 years, Rodgers added: “It’s a great reward for the sacrifice for so many people have put in, especially the players over the course of the season.
ON THE BALL AND ON THE WAY BACK…Cameron Carter-Vickers is poised to face St Mirren.
“You get that at the end of the game, but the actual game, we still have targets that we want to achieve.
“It should be an amazing day, the weather has been incredible. We want to perform, we know it’s a tough game.
“We played St Mirren at the end of last season as well and only won right at the end.
“For this game here, we’ve got a real focus to continue with our performance level that we did the other night, so let’s see where it takes us in the end.”
Cameron Carter-Vickers, who has missed the 3-1 victory over Hibs and the dress rehearsal triumph in the north-east, is back in the squad and expected to play.
Kasper Schmeichel is also tipped to return in goal after missing seven of the last eight games with a shoulder injury.
