Neil Lennon has explained why Aiden McGeady and Andreas Hinkel were left out of last night’s 3-0 Champions League defeat from Sporting Braga.
A back injury picked up training on Tuesday was given to explain McGeady’s absence whilst Hinkel was excluded from the 25 man squad registered with UEFA for this season’s European campaign.
McGeady’s exclusion from the team to play Braga suggested that the player could be on the move with his value decreased if he was unable to play in European ties.
“Aiden was complaining of a recurring back injury last night,” Lennon explained last night.
“I spoke to the medical team and with the lack of training he’s had, we thought it best not to risk him. Hopefully we’ll have him for the second leg.”
Lennon added: “Andreas was not registered in our Euro squad. I just wanted him to be part of it this week.
“Nothing is concrete over his future, but he knows the situation he’s in. He has one year left on his contract and we can’t afford to let it run down.
“We now have Cha Du-Ri and he will predominantly be the right-back this season.”
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Reading between the lines-We hope to offload him for 10 million before next weeks dead rubber. I’m positive but not stupid-they are a decent outfit and if they score at Parkhead, we’re done for. Can’t say I blame Lenny,he has to play politics and I don’t think the wee mhan(McGeady)would have reversed last night’s result. Too many new bhoys introduced in a very short spell. Still expected better than what we got. They were not 3 goals better than us but we threw a couple at them. Lets hope they reciprocate but if we don’t buy a ticket…
Different manager, different players = same Celtic outcome in Europe