ALISTAIR JOHNSTON has vowed to overcome the “weird” injury that saw him removed from the action at half-time in Celtic’s goalless draw with Dinamo Zagreb in Croatia last night.
The Canadian international right-back remains positive he will be fit to face Philippe Clement’s Ibrox side in the Premier Sports League Cup Final at Hampden on Sunday.
Johnston is looking for his sixth medal at the Hoops in just under two years following his £3.75million arrival from MLS outfit CF Montreal in January 2023.
The energetic defender injured a hip after being involved in a clash with Sandro Kulenovic late in the first period with the striker booked for a late lunge.
A TASTE FOR SILVERWARE…Alistair Johnston puts the bite on his first Celtic medal, the League Cup honour after beating Sunday’s opponents Rangers 2-1 at Hampden in February 2023.
Johnston played for the remaining 10 minutes, but was obviously in some discomfort and was replaced by Anthony Ralston at the break.
The 26-year-old defender faces a sweat over the showpiece derby encounter at the weekend, but the determined Vancouver-born performer said: “It was just an awkward one. We’ll do some tests on it and, hopefully, it’s nothing too serious.
“We’ll kind of take it day by day. It’s just a weird one and I was glad I got through the rest of the first-half, but I didn’t feel 100 per cent.
“It was the right decision to put Tony out there and get us through the 90 minutes. He’s more than capable and a very good player.
“So, it made sense for him to come on. I didn’t want to do any more damage potentially.
“We’re not really sure what’s going on with it, so we’ll just get home and have a look at it.
“Hopefully, it’s nothing too serious and we’ll be back out on the training pitch and get ready to go for Sunday.
“It’s a match that’s circled on the calendar, it’s a match I want to be a part of. We’ll see how the flight goes, see how tomorrow goes.
“We’ll take it day by day, hour by hour.”
BRING IT ON…Alistair Johnston (back row, second right) lines up between Paulo Bernardo and Kasper Schmeichel before the 0-0 draw with Dinamo Zagreb in Croatia.
Reflecting on the Hoops’ draw in the Croatian capital that brought Brendan Rodgers’ men their ninth Champions League point, Johnston, speaking to the Scottish Sun, continued: “Again, this was a difficult game, for us to go to Zagreb and get a clean sheet.
“We lacked a little bit of cutting edge in the final third.
“At the same time, we do feel good, we’re fit and we’ve been really strong domestically.
“This is the first opportunity to go and lift a trophy – it’s something all of the lads are ready to go for.”
Rodgers added: “It’s his hip flexor, nothing to the muscular which is good.
“He just felt a bit of pain, so at half-time there was no need to risk that.
“Hopefully, that will settle down in the next couple of days.”
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