Ange Postecoglou isn’t expecting Celtic winger Liel Abada to be injured for a significant period despite his substitution off against RB Leipzig on Tuesday night.
Abada went down with an apparent knee injury towards the end of the first half, limping off for veteran James Forrest.
It immediately sparked concern he could be added to an increasing list of absent Celtic players, with Callum McGregor, Carl Starfelt and Jota all currently on the sidelines.
However, after the match, Postecoglou delivered a hopeful injury update, telling BT Sport: “I don’t think it is anything serious. I think it is more of a dead leg than anything. So hopefully, nothing too serious.”
He may yet still pull up too sore and be unable to feature against Hibernian on Saturday, but it’s at least not an issue that will keep him out for a longer stretch.
Given that Abada looked fairly upset when being substituted, this is a good result.
Celtic need all the attacking talent they can get at the moment, with finishing chances as a collective proving to be difficult over the last few matches.
Abada has been part of that, of course, but we know he can be clinical in front of goal – as evidenced by his superb display against Rangers in the first derby of the season.
Some day soon, it will again start to click for Abada, Kyogo Furuhashi, Giorgos Giakoumakis and Daizen Maeda – when it does, I’m pretty confident this creeping anxiety around the team will disappear.
In other news, Celtic boss Ange Postecoglou addresses the Daizen Maeda issue.
Receive a digest of our best Celtic content each week direct to your mailbox
