Celtic defender Carl Starfelt will be out until October

By Dave Flanigan

September 11, 2022

Celtic defender Carl Starfelt is set for a month on the sidelines after picking up a knee injury in last Saturday’s Glasgow Derby demolition of Rangers.

The Swede already missed pre-season and the opening league fixtures over Aberdeen and Ross County, with a hamstring tear sustained on international duty at the end of last season before making his return from the bench in the 5-0 win over Kilmarnock at Rugby Park.

As reported by the Scottish Sun, Starfelt’s latest injury setback means he’s set to miss a further month of action, despite not requiring surgery.

He was taken off after an hour of the Glasgow Derby and replaced by Moritz Jenz, who also deputised in Tuesday’s 3-0 defeat to Real Madrid in Celtic’s return to the Champions League.

He’ll miss Wednesday’s trip to Warsaw to face Shakhtar Donetsk in the Hoops’ Matchday 2 fixture, and also next weekend’s trip to Paisley to face St Mirren, assuming both of those games go ahead after the Queen’s death saw the postponement of all of this weekend’s league fixtures across Scotland and England.

Starfelt will also likely miss Sweden’s Nations League fixtures against Serbia and Slovenia at the end of the month, and will be fighting to be fit for Celtic’s next league fixture at home to Motherwell on the 1st of October, before the crunch Champions League double-header against RB Leipzig on the 4th and 11th of the month.

Starfelt scored his first goal for the club shortly after coming on at Rugby Park, and followed it up a fortnight later with a perfect header from a corner to score the final of Celtic’s nine goals in the record-breaking 9-0 victory at Tannadice.

Though Jenz has been a capable deputy so far, it’s a blow for both Celtic and the Swede, as one half of last season’s consistent centre-half partnership that led Ange Postecoglou’s side to a league and cup double.

In other news: On-loan Celtic duo suffer mixed success in Europa League group stage opener