Celtic count the cost of victory over Livingston
Soccer Football - Champions League - Group F - Shakhtar Donetsk v Celtic - Stadion Wojska Polskiego, Warsaw, Poland - September 14, 2022 Celtic manager Ange Postecoglu during the match REUTERS/Kacper Pempel
Ange Postecoglou has put Cameron Carter-Vickers absence from the Celtic squad down to playing 90 minutes on Livingston’s plastic pitch on Sunday.
Celtic won the match 3-0 to restore their four point lead in the SPFL but tomorrow night they will have to face Real without their stand-in captain.
Covering tonight’s media conference in Madrid, the Daily Record reports Postecoglou saying:
Squad-wise from the weekend, Cameron Carter-Vickers pulled a bit sore from the game on Sunday. The artificial pitch 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.
Without the former Spurs defender it looks like Stephen Welsh will come into the side, joining Moritz Jenz as he did away to RB Leipzig on Matchday 3.
Carl Starfelt has taken part in training but hasn’t played since picking up a knee injury during the Glasgow derby on September 4.
After tomorrow’s match Celtic still have three more SPFL matches to play before the World Cup break with Carter-Vickers looking to prove his fitness to earn a place in the USA squad.