Celtic Star Suffers Injury on International Duty – Scan Booked
&w=707&quality=100)
In a potential blow for Celtic, Liel Abada is facing a potential setback after sustaining an injury while on international duty with Israel. The winger has been instrumental for the Bhoys this season, filling the gap left by Jota and featuring in four out of five domestic matches.
Abada was drafted into Israel’s Euro 2024 qualifying squad by Head Coach Alon Hazan for the upcoming matches against Romania and Belarus. However, he suffered an untimely injury during a training session and is now expected to sit out Israel’s game this Saturday. Hazan described the injury as a “muscle pinch,” and RecordSport indicate that Abada will undergo a scan to assess the severity.
The timing couldn’t be worse for Celtic’s manager Brendan Rodgers, especially with critical fixtures looming. Celtic are gearing up for a Champions League clash against Feyenoord on Tuesday, September 19, which follows closely on the heels of their return to Scottish Premiership action against Dundee.
While it remains uncertain how many games Abada will miss, his absence would undoubtedly be a significant loss. Fingers crossed the scan doesn’t show up anything problematic.
READ MORE:
Scotland fans can do what they like’: Pleased Steve Clarke not getting carried away with Euro 2024 despite big win over Cyprus
Despite the result meaning Scotland have taken maximum points from their first five Group A games, Clarke – typically – was not getting carried away. He might have no choice but to accept that Scotland are bound for Euro 2024 as soon as Tuesday, when a draw – and only a draw – between Norway and Georgia, while Clarke’s side are playing England, would secure their qualification. Otherwise, Scotland need two points from their final three qualifiers.
Optimism is high after a thorough dismantling of Cyprus in sweltering conditions in the AEK Arena. Goals from Scott McTominay, Ryan Porteous and John McGinn had wrapped up the points within the first half and hour and leaves Scotland tantalisingly close to next summer’s finals. Some fans are already booking plane tickets. “I am pleased that the fans think they can book their flights,” said Clarke. “The fans can do what they like, they can be excited and be carried away. We just have to focus on what we do. We came here to win the game and that’s what we did,” he added. “It’s another step on the road to what we want to do, which is qualify. We have to be pleased.”
Many feared Scotland might slip up in Cyprus, as previous sides have tended to do when faced with challenges they are expected to overcome. The visitors made a mockery of these concerns by posting a professional performance. As well as scoring three times, they also hit the post through McTominay. “We blocked out the noise,” the manager said. “That’s what we did. We came here just to win the game, we didn’t think we are on 12 points we can go to 15. We came to win the game. That’s working pretty well for us, that mentality. The players are level-headed. They didn’t want to make a mistake tonight and trip up and undo what they had done in the first four games.”
“We were keyed up for the game,” he continued. “It was hot and humid and when we got in front we didn’t need to chase the game. But I was just as pleased with the second half as I was as the first as we had control of the game. The first half was good because we got the goals, the second half was good because we controlled the game. I’d like to think in the last three games we are going to pick up more points. We just keep trying to push ourselves and not be complacent.
“The Scottish mentality is there is going to be a hiccup or a bump on the road. So that was something tonight, we said come here tonight and be different from previous teams. Win against the pot five team so that you have taken six points from the pot five team. In the last World Cup campaign we took 12 points off the pot five and pot six teams. That’s your platform to qualify.”
