According to Brendan Rodgers, Liel Abada is now officially in the running to play in Saturday’s crucial Old Firm match alongside Reo Hatate.
Additionally, the Celtic boss has acknowledged that he hopes Cameron Carter-Vickers will be ready for the matchup with the Rangers. With a 3-0 victory over Dundee thanks to goals from substitute Mikey Johnston twice in the last minutes and a second-half goal from Paulo Bernardo, the champions took a five-point lead atop the standings.Following that, manager Rodgers announced that both Hatate, who hasn’t played since the end of October, and Abada, who has been out for nearly four months due to a quad injury, have resumed working with the team and are getting closer to returning. When asked about Saturday, Rodgers responded, “They might be nearby.” Of course, being prepared to begin is one thing.
Rodgers previews Celtic’s matchup with Feyenoord in the Champions League.
“Reo is not at a level to start, but it is at a good level. We’ll monitor his progress over the coming days.
“When we get those two back, it will be like having two new players. He’s training hard and working well.”
A little luster was removed from the Tayside victory when Carter-Vickers had to be taken off the field in the second half because of tightness, raising questions about his fitness before the top-of-the-table match. “He felt a bit of tightness and we had said to him before that he didn’t need to be a hero,” Rodgers said, providing an immediate assessment. Come off, if he felt anything at all. We’ll find out in the coming days, but we’re hoping he’s okay.
Celtic enters the match fresh off victories from Johnston and Bernardo. The Portuguese player scored his first goal since joining on loan from Benfica, and Rodgers remarked, “For a young player, he’s such a mature player.”
He’s always approached training with a positive attitude. Playing at the Champions League level presents a challenge, and he has participated in many big games.
Since he is still learning the style and requirements, he may not have started as many domestic games. However, he possessed a small amount of all skills; he could run into the box, pass the ball, dig, and put his foot in. I thought the goal was out of his reach, but he succeeded in reaching it in the end.
After Johnston broke a club scoring record that dated back to December 2019, Rodgers said, “We keep working with him and feel he can come into the game and make an impact. It’s up to him whether he’s going to be a Celtic player.” We were extremely happy that he scored two goals.
“You never know sometimes on Boxing Day, when you’ve traveled and been away on Christmas night, but I think you saw that the attitude and the energy of the team was outstanding,” said Rodgers, who was pleased with the victory heading into the derby.
We had a strong mentality and attacked the game nonstop; all we needed to do was exercise patience while playing quickly. The Rangers game is something we are eager to see. Playing these games is a great experience.
“We’ll have a full house, and we’ll have the mindset and intensity to win the game.”
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