Neil Lennon has detailed the extent of Kris Ajer’s groin injury with the defender rated doubtful for Sunday’s match at Ibrox.
Less than 15 minutes into the Europa League victory over AIK the defender just stopped running, sat down and looked upset as he came off to be replaced by Tony Ralston.
Ajer had suffered a knock during Sunday’s 3-1 win over Hearts with Lennon facing up to Sunday’s Glasgow derby without his influential defender.
The Sun reported the Celtic boss saying:
It’s a groin strain, so Kris is going to be very doubtful for Sunday. He was just feeling it when he was running. He’s the type of player who won’t come off easily. He was worrying about it deteriorating.
We will assess him on Friday and Saturday because he’s such a huge presence on the pitch. We have Moritz (Bauer) in now and he may come into contention for Ibrox with Kris struggling.
With Hatem Abd Elhamed also extremely doubtful due to a hairline leg fracture Celtic are running short on options to play at right-back.
Ralston played in the fixture last December but seems to be down the pecking order while new signing Moritz Bauer hasn’t played any competitive football this season.
Celtic flew back into Glasgow before midnight last night, Lennon has given his players Friday off and will assess fitness tomorrow before finalising his side for Sunday’s derby match.
