Brendan Rodgers has revealed Liel Abada has firmly joined Reo Hatate in contention to make Saturday’s Old Firm crunch match.
And the Celtic boss has also admitted he’s hopeful of having Cameron Carter-Vickers fit for the showdown against Rangers. The champions opened a five-point lead at the top of the table as Paulo Bernardo’s second-half opener and two late strikes from sub Mikey Johnston secured a 3-0 win at Dundee.
Afterwards, boss Rodgers confirmed Abada, who has been out for almost four months after suffering a quad injury, has returned to work with the group and is closing in on a return along with Hatate who has been absent since the end of October. Asked about Saturday, Rodgers said: “They could be around it. It’s one [another] thing being ready to start, of course.
“Liel looked really good on the field when he trained. [with the group last night]. We kept him at home to do another session to build him up. We’ve missed his running, his goals. He’ll be brilliant for us for the second part of the season.
“Reo is at a good level, but not a level to start. We’ll see how he goes over these next few days.
“He’s training hard, working well and it will be like having two new players when we get those two back.”
Some shine was taken from the Tayside triumph as Carter-Vickers was forced to come off during the second period due to tightness to offer fitness fears ahead of the top-of-the-table showdown. Rodgers gave an instant assessment as he said: “He felt a bit of tightness and we had said to him before that he didn’t need to be a hero. If he felt anything, just come off. We’re hoping he’s okay, but we’ll find out in the next couple of days.”
Celtic go into the clash on the back of the win secured by Bernardo and Johnston. It was the Portuguese’s first goal since joining on loan from Benfica and Rodgers said: “He’s such a mature player for a young player.
“He’s always had a great attitude at training. He’s played in a lot of big games, which is a challenge when you’re playing at Champions League level.
“He’s maybe not started so much in the domestic games because he’s still understanding the style and what’s required. But he had a wee bit of everything, he had a wee bit of dig, put his foot in, passed the ball and made runs into the box. He did great for the goal because I thought it was away from him but he eventually got there.”
Johnston broke a club scoring duck dating back to December 2019 and Rodgers added: “It’s up to him whether he’s going to be a Celtic player, but we keep working with him and feel he can come into the game and make an impact. We were really pleased for him to get the two goals.”
Rodgers was happy with the win to go into the derby and added: “You never know sometimes on Boxing Day, when you’ve travelled and been away on Christmas night, but I think you saw that the attitude and the energy of the team was outstanding.
“Our mentality was strong, we were constantly attacking the game and it was just about having that patience while playing at speed. We are looking forward to it [Rangers game]. These are great games to be involved in.
“There will be a full house for us, and the intensity and mentality will be there to win the game.”
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