Brendan Rodgers is confident of giving Kolo Toure his debut against Barcelona tomorrow.
While Celtic faced Astana in midweek Toure was being put through his paces at Lennoxtown in a bid to get the former Liverpool man upto speed.
Toure could feature in the return leg against Astana with Rodgers getting good reports about from Celtic’s fitness team about the defender’s condition.
“I didn’t think it was fair to ask Kolo to come straight out to Kazakhstan the day after signing,” the Celtic boss told the Evening Times. “He is a very fit individual, but he needed to do some work with the team but he has had a good week’s training this week.
“We will see what he is like for the weekend. I think there’s a good chance that he can be involved in the Barcelona game and the Astana game next week because of the injury situation.”
While Toure strives for fitness Eoghan O’Connell wants to play as many games as possible to press his claim for a regular place.
Circumstances pushed him into action against Astana in midweek but it’s doubtful if any of the injured big hitters could have did any better.
Rodgers took something of a gamble in playing O’Connell but was delighted with the way the 20-year-old handled the match.
“Young Eoghan has done fantastically well since he has come in to the first team,” the Celtic boss admitted. “He reads the game very well and has a very cool head for such a young player. He has been given an opportunity and he has taken it.
“He played very well in difficult circumstances on his European debut the other night and will benefit from playing games like this against top class European opposition. He has done fantastically well and has a bright future ahead of him.
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