Atletico Madrid star set to miss Celtic Champions League games

Atletico Madrid’s Thomas Lemar looks set for a substantial injury lay-off after rupturing his Achilles tendon. The France World Cup Winner will now miss the double-header against Celtic in the UEFA Champions League.

Italian journalist Fabrizio Romano has said on Twitter/X that Lemar will be unavailable for around six months as he requires surgery on this fresh injury.

Diego Simeone’s Atletico were thrashed 3-0 by Valencia on Saturday and the ex-Monaco midfielder started the game but picked up the injury. Now, he’ll miss the entire Group Stages of the competition with an expected return in March.

Lemar is an attacking threat that will be unavailable but that doesn’t change the fact that Simeone has a number of attacking options at his disposal. Albeit, it is a blow to them that they’ll be unable to call upon Lemar.

Celtic face Feyenoord in their UCL opener on Tuesday in Rotterdam before hosting Lazio in Glasgow. Then, the Spaniards will be the visitors to Paradise before the return game in the Spanish capital. After that, there’s a trip to Rome and following that, the Dutch Champions arrive in Glasgow.

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Johnston has faced up against Palma before in a CONCACAF Nations League encounter

Alastair Johnston has remembered he has a bone to pick with new Celtic signing Luis Palma.

The Honduran winger linked up with the Canadian and the rest of his new teammates in August when he completed a £3.5million move to Parkhead from Greek outfit Aris. Palma made his long-awaited debut for the Hoops yesterday, coming on as a second half substitute in the 3-0 Premiership win over Dundee – and he’ll likely have plenty of chances to impress boss Brendan Rodgers as a result of fellow winger Liel Abada’s long-term injury.

Johnston also played in the victory on Saturday, playing with Palma for the first time at Parkhead. But the 24-year-old right back has revealed he’s previously locked horns with Palma in the past during an international fixture between Honduras and Canada – with the former Aris star playing a part in getting Johnston sent off.

The match in question was a CONCACAF Nations League clash in June 2022, with Palma and Honduras coming out on top 2-1 in the end.

The match in question was a CONCACAF Nations League clash in June 2022, with Palma and Honduras coming out on top 2-1 in the end.

Johnston recalled: “John Herdman (former Canada national team boss) really liked what he saw from me and brought me into the camp.

“My first training session of the camp I’m going one v one against Alphonso Davies and he actually pulled up his back from a 50/50 with me and I was like ‘Oh no, what have I done?”

“All of the boys were just like ‘Pack your bags!”

“Luckily he was alright thankfully. That was just the start and it kicked off with my first cap and someone told me I broke a record for most consecutive caps in a row.

“I think I played 33 matches straight until I got a red card and got suspended, thanks to Palma actually down in Honduras.

“We need to pull him up on that.”