Add as preferred source on Google

Australia coach Graham Arnold revealed Celtic asked him not to pick Tom Rogic against Oman.

The Socceroos warmed up for Asia Cup duty with a victory without the Celtic man in the squad.

This prompted an angry reaction from Hoops fans about the whole saga.

Now, the Aussie boss claims The Bhoys wanted to protect a knee injury.

Toing and froing causing confusion

Australia comfortably defeated Oman by five goals to nil in their pre-Asia Cup friendly.

Celtic fans were aghast when Rogic’s name didn’t appear in the squad at all.

A picture of the midfielder in the stands was met with disgust on social media due to the nature of the club v country debacle.

The finger was pointed at Arnold for not extending Rogic’s leave for the Rangers defeat.

Arnold defended himself afterwards, stating it was a Celtic email that seen the 26-year-old sit out.

As reported by The Sydney Morning Herald, Arnold said: “We received an email from Celtic asking us not to play him because he had a knee issue, so we didn’t play him.

“He’s got a small knee issue and it blew up on the plane, on the flight.

“He’s here because he wants to be here.

“The most important thing is the fitness and the health of the kid.

“Celtic asked us not to play him – we have emails to prove it.”

Would Rogic have featured against Rangers after all?

One major talking point after Saturday’s Ibrox defeat was how much Rogic was missed.

The attacking midfielder likes a goal against Rangers, and Celtic were starved of that this time round.

The midfield was overrun and the next best player, Callum McGregor, was pushed to left-back.

However, with Celtic monitoring Rogic’s knee injury, questions surround whether he would even have played.

Brendan Rodgers already took precautions with other injured players and started replacements.

Perhaps with the pressure of the call-up saga, the Irishman may have opted for him.

However, had Rogic got injured at Ibrox, the tale would open up a greater can of worms.