Martin O’Neill has addressed the fitness of Celtic’s Kieran Tierney and Kasper Schmeichel.
There are doubts over the pair’s participation in Sunday’s Glasgow Derby at Ibrox, though for different reasons.
Kasper Schmeichel finds himself in an intense battle with Viljami Sinisalo to keep the gloves for the rest of the season, whilst Kieran Tierney has been nursing a foot injury sustained against Aberdeen.
Speaking ahead of the game, O’Neill answered questions on both.
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Martin O’Neill on Celtic’s Kieran Tierney and Kasper Schmeichel
The interim boss said: “Yeah, we have a couple of niggles.
“Kieran, for a start, though the injury to his foot is clearing up, he’s just generally sore in every aspect.
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“We’ll see how he is tomorrow, but generally speaking, he’s done fabulous for us, and now he’s getting back to almost-complete fitness, which is great.
“And we’ll see – Kasper trained today, for the first time since since the injection, since he’s better. So we’ll see how he is tomorrow as well.
“The young goalkeeper (Sinisalo) has done really fine for us as well, too. So who is there… a couple of other bumps and bruises, but we’re trying to get through it.”
On having a decision to make in the goalkeeping department, O’Neill said: “Yeah, we’ll see.
“That’s the nature of the business, you make some big decisions at times. We’ll see how [Schmeichel] is, and whether there’s a decision to make by tomorrow.”
Schmeichel has been dealing with a shoulder injury for almost a year at this point, facing criticism for a downturn in form since picking up the injury.
Sinisalo has received praise for his performances in the Dane’s absence.
Has he played his way into the team for Ibrox?
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