Team News: Rodgers makes two changes as Hatate and Carter-Vickers start at Livingston
Soccer Football - Scottish Premiership - Celtic v Aberdeen - Celtic Park, Glasgow, Scotland, Britain - July 31, 2022 Celtic players in a huddle before the match REUTERS/Russell Cheyne
Reo Hatate starts his first Celtic match since October as the hoops take on Livingston looking to return to the top of the SPFL Premiership.
The midfielder came off the bench for 20 minutes away to St Mirren on January 2 and hasn’t been seen in a Celtic shirt since, later that month he suffered calf injuries at the Asian Cup.
Paulo Bernardo drops out of the midfield to make way for Hatate but there is no sign of Callum McGregor who hasn’t played since the February 28 win over Dundee.
The inclusion of Cameron Carter-Vickers to start on the plastic pitch at the Tony Macaroni Arena is something of a surprise but after two full weeks of training Brendan Rodgers will be hoping that the former Spurs man is back to full fitness. Liam Scales replaces Stephen Welsh on the left of Carter-Vickers.
There will be plenty of attention on referee Don Robertson and the instructions that he gets from Alan Muir on VAR.
CELTIC: Hart; Johnston, Carter-Vickers, Scales, Taylor; Iwata, O’Riley, Hatate; Kuhn, Kyogo, Maeda
SUBS: Bain, Idah, Yang, Nawrocki, Bernardo, Kelly, Forrest, Ralston, Welsh