EDOUARD SET TO TACKLE RB

Team-mate Tierney says Hoops hitman is bullish about trip to Austria after suffering no ill effects from ‘reckless’ challenge

CELTIC’S £9 million hitman Odsonne Edouard has declared himself fit and ready to spearhead Brendan Rodgers attack against RB Salzburg in the Europa League tomorrow night.

The French striker left the field with a dead leg prior to the interval during Saturday’s 1-0 Premiership win at Celtic Park over Aberdeen after a tackle by Reds defender Scott Mckenna which Rodgers branded ‘very reckless’ and went unpunished by referee Bobby Madden.

Hoops team-mate Kieran Tierney, inset, revealed the 20-year-old has shaken off ill-effects from the knock and returned to first team training this week and will be in contention for the Hoops second Group B match against the Austrians in the Red Bull Arena in Salzburg.

Whilst Tierney refused to discuss the nature of Mckenna’s tackle but he revealed he was delighted the attacker wasn’t seriously hurt.

Tierney said: “Odsonne is back in training and he is fine. “Everybody saw the tackle.

“It’s one of those things you can’t say too much about; you just need to get on with it and hope that something like that doesn’t happen to you – you continue to challenge in a fair manner and hope that nothing bad happens.

“Odsonne got lucky because his foot hadn’t been planted.

“It looked a really sore one at the time, though, so to have him back on the training ground is great for us.

“I saw the photograph that Odsonne put on social media – and I saw Broony’s comment underneath it as well.

“He [Scott Mckenna] probably never meant to do it but it’s just one of those things – anyone can mistime a challenge.”

Meanwhile the 21-year-old full back has challenged table toppers Hearts to prove they can cope with the pressure of leading from the front.

Craig Levein’s men have made a blistering start to the campaign and sit five points clear at the Premiership summit.

Double-treble winner Tierney dismissed any talk of crisis within the Celtic dressing room who are fifth in the table some six points behind the Gorgie men but he insisted the Hoops were taking the capital clubs title tilt very seriously indeed.

Tiermey said: “That could be interesting because usually the pressure is on us to lead from the front but Hearts are sitting on top of the Premiership and they haven’t lost to anyone yet so the pressure will eventually build on them.

“At Celtic, we’re used to dealing with that pressure all the time. “Hearts have had a great start and proved that they’re really hard to beat – we already know that because, when we lost to them at Tynecastle, it was a really tough game.

“It’s good for the division that so many teams are challenging at this early stage but, for us, we want to climb up the table. “People talk about a title challenge and, especially when there’s so much chatter about us, we just want to work hard and go out there and do what we’ve always done.”