Liel Abada could miss Celtic’s entire UEFA Champions League group stage campaign after suffering an injury on international duty.
Abada will be out for a period of months after picking up a thigh injury while in training with the Israel national side. With our Champions League campaign, which lasts 13 weeks, getting underway in a matter of days, he is in a battle to play any part.
The attacker was named on manager Brendan Rodgers‘ 25-player ‘List A’ last week (UEFA) alongside the likes of Luis Palma and Hyunjun Yang.
Another winger, Marco Tilio, wasn’t included in the squad for the group stage. The Aussie hasn’t been seen yet this season but will be back from injury far sooner than Abada.
Tilio, or any other player, is unable to be added to the Hoops squad in place of Abada, despite the competition not having begun yet. Celtic will therefore likely be without both Abada and Tilio for the six matches at the highest level of European football.
“That is the big frustration,” Rodgers admitted to The Herald on Thursday. “Those were some of the things we had to think of.
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“Marco Tilio would have been perfect to put in there now. But he is only coming back from an injury himself and we had to weigh up that aspect of it.
“The bottom line is that we can’t change it.”
UEFA regulations allow clubs to make last-minute alterations to squads on the day before some matches. However, that privilege is kept mainly for qualifying ties. The group stage is a different story.
The squad that we have named will have to last us for these six matches. Should we qualify for either the Champions League or Europa League after Christmas, we will be able to register three new players.
Tilio and Abada will likely have to wait until then for any European involvement.
In other news, Luis Palma won’t be back in Celtic training until Friday