Israel are desperate to play Celtic centre-back Nir Bitton against Scotland on Thursday night and will give him every chance to be fit, according to the Scottish Sun.
The Sun reports that the Israelis included Bitton in their training session at Firhill yesterday, but stated that he didn’t kick a ball.
The newspaper believes that Israel are going to try and reduce the swelling on his ankle to give him every chance to be available for the Euro 2020 play-off at Hampden.
That would infuriate Celtic ahead of their massive clash against Rangers after the international break a week on Saturday, the Sun reports.
Hoops manager Neil Lennon said at the weekend that it would be “impossible” for Bitton to feature against Scotland (Daily Record). It appeared that the Celtic boss was irked by the fact Bitton was even called up in the first place.
Bitton must do right by his employers
As much as there appears to be a bit of a ding-dong between club and country interests here, it’s important to remember that Bitton himself has a responsibility to keep himself fit for his employers.
There’s nothing wrong with trying to get the swelling down on his ankle. In fact, that’s welcomed considering we have such a huge clash against Rangers coming up and the Israeli star has been impressive in recent games.
However, if he feels any sort of pain whatsoever heading into Thursday’s match with Scotland, he should be demanding that he doesn’t feature. If he was to knowingly risk a long-term injury, and we know what he’s like with those, then Lennon would have every right to be raging here.
It’s also worth noting that Israel host the Czech Republic before travelling to Slovakia in the Nations League before Bitton comes back to Lennoxtown. Lennon will be keeping his eye on all three games to ensure his asset is protected.
It’s debatable as to whether Nir has even made the right call linking up with the squad too. Remember, Lennon said after he picked up the injury in Sarajevo last week that Bitton could be out for “maybe just three to four weeks” (The National).
God knows then what might be going through his mind if he’s playing in a feisty Euro playoff for Israel just one week later. It’s going to be an interesting next seven days.
In other news, rival fans have been bringing Celtic into focus they rage at a recent SPFL decision.
Receive a digest of our best Celtic content each week direct to your mailbox
