Davies: Kipre did one on Moussa
injury has flared up since then. And asked if Kipre’s challenge could have had serious repercussions for the Celtic star’s career, Davies said: “Absolutely. The more you watch the tackle back, the worse it gets. It’s one of those ones.
“Moussa’s got a swollen ankle. It was a very poorly timed tackle so he’s looking like he’s unavailable now for Wednesday. We’ll have to see how he goes because of the tackle.
“He’s had a bad twist to the ankle and the contact as well. It could have been much, much worse. Thankfully for him, it’s not. We’ll just have to see.
“Thankfully, Moussa’s quite physically robust. With a bit of luck he’s avoided that situation [of a major injury].
“After 72 hours you can start to get a clearer picture on a twist. But it’s not a long-term thing. Hopefully he’ll be okay.
“Obviously the link is that it was the same player [Kipre] who was involved [in the penalty].
“From our perspective, full credit to Motherwell for getting to the final. What I’m saying is that this incident shouldn’t overshadow how dominant we were. If anything, there’s a debate as to whether that player should even have been on the pitch at that point.
The meeting with Motherwell tonight is the second of three matches between the clubs in the space of seven days.
And while many have taken a swipe at the scheduling and have suggested it questions the credibility of the domestic set-up, Davies prefers not to get involved with the fixture frenzy.
He added: “It’s a unique situation, playing the same team three times in quick succession.
“With the schedule and Celtic fighting on all fronts I’d anticipate sometimes scheduling issues like this would sometimes arise. So in that sense, I would say it is understandable.”
THE familiarity of winning may be breeding contentment at all-conquering Celtic but some familiar faces are certainly fostering some contempt for Hoops ace Dedryck Boyata.
Fresh from Sunday’s Betfred Cup Final victory over Motherwell, which maintained Celtic’s long unbeaten run on the domestic front and ticked off the first box in the club’s quest for a double treble, the Hoops square up to the Lanarkshire side again tonight and face them again on league duty at the weekend.
It’s an unfortunate and somewhat wearying muddle in the fixture list and Belgian star Boyata will certainly be happy to see the back of the Steelmen.
He said: “I would say it is crazy. But we have to do it. When I was in Anderlecht, a Belgian journalist was telling me because he wanted to come over and said, ‘It is crazy you have three matches in a row against the same team’. I said, ‘What? No way’. But that is how it is. It doesn’t look good. You want to see other faces.
“But I think it will be a hard game. We know from the final that Motherwell are a good team and a hard team to play against. Now we have to play against them away. That happens in other leagues. You play in the cup then you have to play in the league. From their point of view, I think it will be a hard game too.
“They have just lost the cup. They will want to win that game and make it difficult for us. It is a game we will have to take very seriously. I am not doing the schedule, I am just playing the game.”
BOYATA is certainly enjoying playing the game just now as Celtic continue to set records in their own back yard.
At the start of the year, he was pounding the treadmills at the Lennoxtown training crowd well after midnight in an effort to regain full form, fitness and his place in Brendan Rodgers’ starting line-up. He went from the night shift to treble time as the Hoops racked up a decorated trinity of trophies and the Belgian’s renaissance was complete.
The games may be coming thick and fast on a variety of fronts for Celtic but you won’t hear Boyata moaning about the hectic workload.
He added: “That (being in the gym at night) is why I will never complain about playing. I have come far since then, and I am just enjoying the moment. I can’t really be critical about playing the same team three times as, right now, I am enjoying my football.”
There was little time for Boyata and his team-mates to properly celebrate Sunday’s Hampden triumph but the former Man City player, who turned 27 yesterday, still cherished the moment. There will be plenty of time for popping corks when the hard work is done and more goals have been achieved.
He said: “Wins like this are something to treasure, when you look back in ten years or more. You can’t just get used to it. It is always a good thing to win a medal, it always means something. Me, I take it very importantly. I have all my medals put away in my safe. For me, the win was a good early birthday present.
“We try to do as much as possible as a team, whenever we have time. We have won the League Cup but we didn’t really have the time to celebrate it. But team bonding is very important.
“We have a very good group, with very good relations. During Christmas is difficult because we have all these games, but we are used to it. At the start you aren’t used to it, you think ‘come on, we are playing the day after Christmas Day?’ But now you know how it works and if the family come round, you might not be there the whole time. You might have to go and train on Christmas Day.
“You just get used to it. A football career is 15 years max, maybe 20. After that, you have all the time. It is very difficult because you are young and you want to party and celebrate with your family but you have to make the right decisions.
“We only had one day off (after the Betfred Cup win) then we were back in and then it is a game on Wednesday. So to go out and enjoy a win, you need