LIEL GOES WITH OUR BLESSING
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try to secure a result against La Liga cracks Real Betis in Seville.
The 19-year-old will be joined on the sidelines by captain Callum McGregor, Kyogo Furuhashi, Giorgos Giakoumakis, James Forrest, Nir Bitton and Greg Taylor.
It makes the challenge for Postecoglou to become the first Celtic boss to win in Spain even trickier.
But the Aussie said he had no hesitation in letting summer signing Abada to sit this one out.
Postecoglou said: “It’s a fairly significant day. It’s his religion and rightly so. He’s not able to participate on the night.
“Yom Kippur is a fairly significant day in the holy calendar for them.
“It’s a day when you’re not allowed to participate in events, a day of reflection for them.
“It’s not the first time it’s happened in my career, where a player’s religious beliefs have meant that football doesn’t take the priority we all think it should maybe sometimes in life.
“That’s the case for Liel on this night and we’re very respectful of that. As soon as the fixtures came out, we kind of knew.”
Another major loss is McGregor, who went off at the weekend with a minor hamstring issue.
Taylor also injured his shoulder and will now require surgery while Greek striker Giakoumakis is still unavailable.
The Hoops boss knows he and the rest of his squad need to make the most of what they have.
Postecoglou added: “It is not great. Greg will probably need surgery, so we are expecting him to be out for a mediumterm timeframe.
“Callum is a very influential player for us but we are going through a period just now where we are going through some significant outs.
“It has been the state of play since I got here. We have been in a constant state of flux and haven’t been able to settle.
“That is an opportunity to build our resilience through this period, to just keep doing what we have been doing and playing our football.
“If we can get through this period without shifting the team we want to be, then it is going to make us even stronger once we get everyone back.”
Bitton and Forrest are also still not available to the 56-year-old.
Postecoglou said: “James is not far away. He’s got one final hurdle to get over in terms of being available for selection.
“He’s working awfully hard in rehab and training but hasn’t joined the group yet. We’re hoping he will get there over the next seven to 10 days.”
Celtic’s history has been built on big European nights and Postecoglou still believes, with or without key men, his squad can make their mark in Group G against Betis, Ferencvaros and Bayer Leverkusen.
He added: “That’s the opportunity that this group now has, whether it’s in this game or the years to come. It’s a special club which has had some special European nights and our responsibility is to create some more for our fans.
“We are looking forward to it. There is a historical significance with us and Seville. It is an opportunity to test ourselves against a very good side away from home.
“We were pleased to get into this group stage because we knew there would be some very exciting group games to get involved with. I am looking forward to it.”
Defender Anthony Ralston does return after sitting out last Saturday’s 3-0 win over Ross County.