ERIK SVIATCHENKO has welcomed Emilio Izaguirre back into the Celtic starting eleven. The Honduran left-back has returned with Kieran Tierney ruled out with an ankle injury sustained in in a freak training ground accident last week.Sviatchenko said: “It is such a pity for KT. He has been on the up and up for so long now.
“It is a real blow for the team and for himself that he is going to be out now for at least a couple of months.
“But we are lucky that we have Emilio because he has shown that he is ready to come into the team and he is a top professional.
“KT will be back. He has such a good attitude that he is the type of player who will work very hard and he will be very positive in his approach.
“We wish him all the best. It would be nice for him to be fit and ready knowing that there was still some European football for us to play.”
Izaguirre lost his No.3 position to 19-year-old Tierney last season and admitted he came close to leaving the Hoops in the summer before Brendan Rodgers blocked the move.
He revealed yesterday: “There was a time when I thought I would be leaving Celtic and Scotland. In the summer, I tried to move to another club to play more football.
“But the manager told me that he needed me in case anything happened to young KT.“Now I am playing again in the Champions League and I am just focusing on helping Celtic succeed. This is football. It can change any day. Maybe tomorrow, something else will happen.”
It remains to be seen if the champions will offer to extend the 30-year-old defender’s contract which expires in June.
Meanwhile Kieran has now had his operation and has reported back that it went well.
