Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers has dropped a nine-word injury update on a Hoops player with “absolutely everything”, adding to the concerns around Cameron Carter-Vickers.
Rodgers suffers Carter-Vickers blow in Celtic comeback
The Hoops secured an important victory in the Europa League on Thursday evening, winning 2-1 at home to Sturm Graz, bouncing back from last weekend’s 2-0 defeat at Dundee in the Scottish Premiership.
Speaking after the game, Rodgers seemed more positive than he has been for most of this season so far, hailing his Celtic side’s performance at Parkhead.
“I thought we were brilliant in the game. I mentioned beforehand that with pressure you can go two ways. You can either make progress or you can crumble, and the performance of the players showed that they progressed so much tonight. We really dominated a very good team in Sturm Graz. You can see the goals they’ve scored and the physicality they have.
“I’ve said before that there are always games in your season that can be the turning point and I think that tonight is an all-round performance against a good side. Now we have to recover because we have a big game on Sunday and we have to put that same energy and focused mentality in to that game.”
While Thursday’s victory was a welcome shot in the arm for Celtic, they were brought back down to Earth with the news that Carter-Vickers has suffered an achilles problem and could be out for several months.
Rodgers confirmed the blow ahead of the trip to Hearts on Sunday, revealing an exact timeline is not yet certain but “its not great news”, and it might not be the only concern…
Iheanacho injury "looks like a hamstring"
Speaking to the media, Rodgers also provided a worrying nine-word injury update regarding Celtic striker Kelechi Iheanacho: “It doesn’t look great. It looks like a hamstring.”
The Hoops manager added: “We’ll see where it is, but it looks like hamstrings, which isn’t great. I’m not worried about (squad depth). I’m really only worried about how we played tonight, and that’s our focus. We’ll see what it is in the morning, and if they’re not available…we just have to accept it if we have injuries.”
Celtic face a huge Scottish Premiership clash with Hearts on Sunday lunchtime, with the latter topping the table by five points ahead of the reigning champions.
Not having both their starting number nine and top centre-half available for such a key match is a massive blow for the Hoops, with Rodgers lauding the Nigeria star during their time together at Leicester City.
“He’s a nightmare in training to be fair. He’s just a big strong lad who can put himself about, he’s fast, he’s got absolutely everything to be a top striker and he’s showing it now, which is great.”
With Iheanacho almost certainly out against Hearts, it is up to other Celtic attackers to step up to the plate, with the summer signing already scoring twice in three league starts this season.
