Key defender Cameron Carter-Vickers will be missing for Celtic as they sign off their Champions League campaign against Real Madrid in the Bernabeu on Wednesday.
The centre-back, who has been captaining the side in the absence of sidelined skipper Callum McGregor, suffered an injury in the 3-0 defeat to Livingston at the weekend and hasn't travelled with the squad to the Spanish Capital.
Celtic are short of options in central defence. Stephen Welsh and Carl Starfelt could be involved but both have been out injured recently, so Moritz Jenz is currently the only centre-back who has been playing regularly.
“Squad-wise from the weekend, Cameron Carter-Vickers pulled up a bit sore from the game on Sunday,” said manager Ange Postecoglou at his pre-match media conference. “The artificial pitch (at Livingston) wasn’t great for him, so we’ve left him at home.
“Everyone else apart from Callum (McGregor) is fit and available. We’re looking forward to it.”
Celtic have taken only two points from their five Champions League games so far, but Postecoglou is adamant he has nothing to prove on a personal level. He insists his main objective is to ensure his team come back stronger and start to establish themselves as regular contestants in Europe’s primary competition.
“I don’t have to prove myself as a manager,” he said. “I do this because I think this football club deserves to be at this level. What this year has given me is the appetite to make sure we’re here every year and make an impact.
“We get 60,000 at every game and we’ve got an unbelievable stadium that creates the most unique of atmospheres. A club of our size deserves to be playing at this level so that’s where the motivation lies. I want this club to make an impact.
“It’s not about me, I don’t need to prove myself to anyone. I’m quite comfortable with the kind of manager I am but also know I have a responsibility to make sure this football club takes its rightful place among the best football clubs in the world.”
Postecoglou admits he was disappointed to see Japanese pair Reo Hatate and Kyogo Furuhashi miss out on a place in Japan’s World Cup squad. Both players have excelled since joining the Glasgow side last season but Daizen Maeda was the only member of Celtic’s Japanese contingent to be named in their squad this week.
Asked if he had sympathy for Hatate, 24, and Kyogo, 27, Postecoglou said: “Yes, obviously I do because I was fortunate to be a manager at a World Cup (with Australia in 2014) and it’s one of those tournaments that, for every player, it’s a dream to get there.
“I think they both would have been very close to getting there, particularly Kyogo, so I’m disappointed for them. Reo’s maybe got another one or two cycles of World Cups to potentially go to whereas Kyogo, who I still think of as young, might have one.
“You want to get these opportunities so I’m disappointed for them but both of them are really strong characters. I know they’ll take it in the right way and it will motivate them to continue to play their football to the best of their ability at our football club.”
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