5 rival players are put through the wringer as Celtic stars earn pre-derby rest

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Yesterday was certainly a decent day for Celtic supporters when it came to the international injury news.

Outside of Stephen Welsh, all of our top stars came through unscathed as we now appear ready for battle against Rangers at Ibrox on Sunday.

However, in addition to that, it turns out that most of our players received a total rest from action too. Callum McGregor and Greg Taylor, for example, were left on the bench for Scotland’s 2-2 draw in Austria. The same goes for Carl Starfelt in Sweden’s World Cup qualifying loss to Poland. Josip Juranovic also sat on the bench for 90 minutes as Croatia beat Bulgaria.

Indeed, Celtic’s top stars were being rested up. It came after Nir Bitton was allowed to return home from the Israel squad early with Giorgos Giakoumakis only coming on for the closing stages for Greece on Monday night.

Rangers could only wish they had the same situation with as many as 5 of their first-team stars being put through the international wringer.

Indeed, Borna Barisic, Joe Aribo, Calvin Bassey, Leon Balogun, and Ryan Jack all went through tiring matches yesterday that may very well drain them ahead of the derby.

Celtic could have an advantage as Rangers players go through heavy schedules before derby

Aribo and Balogun both played 90 minutes for Nigeria as they were knocked out of World Cup qualifying by Ghana. Bassey played 88.

Barisic, meanwhile, wasn’t one of the players taken off by Croatia boss Zlatko Dalic against Bulgaria. He also featured for 90 minutes yesterday. Ryan Jack, meanwhile, played an hour of Scotland’s frantic 2-2 draw with Austria.

So there was no respite for many of Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s first-team international stars this week. Only Aaron Ramsay missed out for Wales. But even so, all 5 mentioned here are likely to play a role against Celtic at the weekend.

We’ve already seen how much Rangers struggle with the Thursday to Sunday turnover when it comes to Europa League fixtures. Granted, they’ll have an extra couple of days in this situation to prepare. But even so. They’ve still had to put more of their energy into the internationals than many of the Celtic stars.

Only Liel Abada played 90 minutes yesterday from a Celtic perspective. That came against Germany under-21s in Euro qualifying. Matt O’Riley, meanwhile, came on for the final 20 minutes to make his Denmark under-21 debut.

Hopefully it leads to a slight advantage come kick-off on Sunday. Having our stars well-rested is key to a big performance on Sunday. Rangers, after what happened yesterday, don’t really have that.

In other news, “Way better”; Even Danish coach left blown away by Ange’s Celtic turnaround