If Martin O’Neill dodged a Celtic goalkeeper decision last weekend, he won’t be this time around.
The Celtic manager has to decide between Kasper Schmeichel and Viljami Sinisalo after the former made a return to training on Friday.
Schmeichel unexpectedly dropped out of the matchday squad altogether for last week’s Glasgow Derby at Ibrox, with O’Neill later revealing that the 39-year-old had been feeling ‘poorly’.
Sinisalo promptly stepped up and played in Celtic’s last two games, so will he keep his place in the team for the Scottish Cup encounter?
How many points will Celtic end the season with?
Will it be enough to win the league? 😅
Martin O’Neill’s decision between Kasper Schmeichel and Viljami Sinisalo
There were no major doubts about Sinisalo’s performances at Ibrox and Pittodrie, even if they weren’t show-stoppers.
His second-half save from Kevin Nisbet on Wednesday will do his case no harm at all, however.
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Asked about the pair during the week, the interim Celtic boss said: , “I’m quite sure that every single goalkeeper has had to sit back for a while and wait for your chance, if that’s the case. History will tell you this.
“But Kasper’s had a great career behind him, this young lad’s trying to make a career in front of him. And I’m not saying that we’re using this as an opportunity, honestly.
“But it is and I’m sure you’ll find this an opportunity for him to impress and try and do well, to try and hold down the spot.
“The decision was made for me. It’s a battle. And why shouldn’t goalkeepers have a battle on? Outfield players, we’re changing the side around, we’re chopping and changing at different stages. We bring on substitutes, we do all of these particular things at the end of it.
“And in the long term, it’ll give whoever’s going to be managing (next season) at least an opportunity to say, let’s go look back.
“And if you’re going to have a test, it might as well be at Stuttgart away, and it might as well be at Ibrox.
“I knew he played at Ibrox, but I didn’t realise he’d played about five or six games at the back end of last season. And apparently he did pretty well.
“I thought he did well enough in Stuttgart to give you hope that if he was called upon at Ibrox that this would be the case.
“So I think, at the minute, I thought he passed the test. But if you’re asking me if I was just coming into this and these were my first games, I’m not saying that I had any other thought. But I think that Brendan was going to give him the cup games.
“I’m talking about Sinisalo at the time, and my first game was Falkirk. And I think he might have been getting that game. But when I come in, the bets are off.
“I’m going to go for the experience and what I know, because I didn’t know the young lad. So from that viewpoint, and at least he’s come through that sort of test, which is great.”
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