Brendan Rodgers has explained why Callum McGregor was left out of Celtic’s win over Motherwell and why Luke McCowan started the Fir Park clash.
After Celtic put in a Herculean effort against Atalanta in the Champions League there was every chance that Rodgers would look to rotate his squad to keep the players fresh.
And the Hoops boss did just that. Leaving out Callum McGregor set the Celtic fans’ tongues wagging as the Parkhead support looked to find answers on why their captain was dropped.
The influential midfielder is at the heart of everything Celtic do and Rodgers explains why McGregor missed the Fir Park win and why Luke McCowan started.
Callum McGregor’s injury and Luke McCowan’s ‘impact’ from the Celtic bench
Speaking of his captain, Rodgers told Sky Sports, “He just felt a little bit in his adductor yesterday. He’s obviously played so many games, so many minutes and we don’t really want to take the risk of that.
“So hence the reason why he misses out today.”
So it seems McGregor’s exertions in Bergamo have taken a strain on him and it was a wise decision to leave the Celtic captain out of the squad.
And on Luke McCowan stepping in Rodgers explained, “Yeah, he’s done very well, I think. Obviously, you see the pride and the joy he has of being a Celtic player and it’s just a case of just introducing him over time.
“And he’s made some really good impacts from the from the bench. He comes in and makes his Champions League debut during the week, which gives him a lot of confidence.
“And now he can step in today and we know he’s a goal threat and he’ll work very, very hard.”
McCowan was excellent and left the Celtic fans breathless as his midfield display and goal capped off a wonderful performance for Rodgers’ new Bhoy at Fir Park.
Celtic boss delivers Callum McGregor injury timeline
Celtic have a run of very important fixtures coming up over the next two weeks. With Dundee on Wednesday night in the league followed up by the League Cup semi-final against Aberdeen on Saturday, the fans will now be wondering how long their captain will be missing.
The Celtic boss moved to allay any fears as Rodgers told the Daily Mail, “It shouldn’t be too serious.
“I got the call late last night and, with the number of games he’s played over the years, it was really sensible and mature as well.
“Because maybe before he might not have mentioned it. He had a wee feeling after the training session yesterday. Then I got to find out, and we said let’s see how he is in the morning.
“Rather than take any risk, we didn’t want to put him on to maybe stretch it and then be out for a number of weeks. So, hopefully, he’ll be fine over these next few days and, if not Wednesday, hopefully, he should be fine for next weekend.”
That’s good news for the Celtic fans indeed. As well as Dundee and Aberdeen, the Hoops also need to negotiate RB Leipzig in the Champions League on the 5th as well as facing Kilmarnock on the 10th in the league.
Having McGregor back for both fixtures will be a huge boost for Celtic if they want to go into the final international break of the season on high.
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