Brendan Rodgers delivered mixed news on the injury front ahead of Celtic’s Europa League tie against Valencia.
Jozo Simunovic and Emilio Izaguirre are both back and available but Kieran Tierney and Olivier Ntcham will miss the Europa League last 32 tie.
Brendan Rodgers ahead of @CelticFC v @valenciacf_en
? Tierney & Ntcham not available – Simunovic & Izaguirre are fit
? Valencia are good but so are we – that’s why we’re here
? We’re at the best level we could be ahead of tie
? European football important for finances pic.twitter.com/ksHJmKckbz
— PLZ Soccer (@PLZSoccer) February 13, 2019
The loss of Tierney will create the most headlines with all of the indications being that he was ready to end his two month absence caused by a hip problem.
Pictures of the defender in training this morning seemed to suggest that he was ready for a dramatic return.
With Sunday’s SPFL match on the plastic surface at Rugby Park followed by the return tie in Spain it could be another fortnight before Tierney is back in action.
Ntcham suffered a hamstring injury during the winter break in Dubai and had to pull out from being a substitute for Sunday’s Scottish Cup win over St Johnstone.
Izaguirre suffered a heavy ankle knock last Wednesday against Hibs but has now recovered while Simunovic missed the second half of the 5-0 win over St Johnstone due to injury.