Celtic fans are now just over 24 hours away from watching their heroes in the Champions League again as the team heads to Atalanta for matchday three.
With a win over Slovan Bratislava under their belts, Brendan Rodgers will be keen to make amends for the heavy defeat at Borussia Dortmund at the beginning of this month.
Sitting in 20th place in the UEFA league standings, Rodgers knows that picking up anything in Bergamo will increase Celtic’s chances of qualifying for the first time in over a decade.
But to do that the Celtic boss will need all his best players available and just before they caught their flight to Italy, the club published training footage that will leave the Hoops support buzzing.
Cameron Carter-Vickers trained with Celtic before Atalanta game
Brendan Rodgers admitted just before the Aberdeen game that although Cameron Carter-Vickers was back in training, the Celtic boss will have to wait and see how he reacted before deciding on whether or not he will make the Atalanta game.
Rodgers said at the time, “I think what we’re conscious of with Cam is he had a wee bit last season where he was in and out, even though it’s a totally different injury this time.
“It’s one where we were told at the time, it could’ve been anywhere between two and three months, but it’s just not wanting to push him back in too early, which might then set him back, so he’s doing really, really well. He still has a discomfort there, not as bad as what it was for the Bratislava game, but we don’t think he’s too far away from being where he wants to be.
“So we’re just trying to manage that and just react to each day he trains to see what the after-effects are.”
And then Celtic posted this footage this afternoon:
The big defender looked comfortable during his run and it seems like there were no after-effects from his weekend training sessions.
Cameron Carter-Vickers’ importance to Celtic for Atalanta
There is no doubt that Celtic are a much better team with Carter-Vickers in it. The US international has been crucial to the team’s successes over the last three seasons.
Celtic have lost just four domestic games in three years when Carter-Vickers has started or played as he brings steeliness to the heart of the defence. [Transfermarkt]
Now that it seems he has travelled with the squad, the Celtic fans will be hoping Carter-Vickers will start and be much more confident of securing a positive result in Italy with him in the team.
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