Dembele in a sweat for Anderlecht showdown

MOUSSA DEMBELE faces a race against time to make Celtic’s crucial Champions League game with Anderlecht after Motherwell’s Cedric Kipre damaged the striker’s ankle during the Betfred Cup final. The Frenchman will be absent from tonight’s rematch in the Premiership at Fir Park and is a doubt for the third and final instalment between the sides at Celtic Park on Saturday as well as the visit of the Belgians to Glasgow next Tuesday. Kipre caught his fellow Parisian with a wild tackle early in the first half of a game that would later become mired in controversy when referee Craig Thomson awarded a penalty and sent him off for a dubious foul on Scott Sinclair. Dembele, who converted the resultant spot-kick on the way to a 2-0 victory, now faces an unspecified spell on the sidelines as Celtic’s medical team wait for the swelling on his ankle to subside to the extent that they can assess the damage. ‘Moussa’s got a swollen ankle,’

said Celtic assistant manager Chris Davies. ‘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. ‘It’s early stages with the swelling. We’ll need to wait for that to go down. 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.’ Asked if the challenge could potentially have been careerthreatening, Davies replied: ‘Absolutely. The more you watch it back, the worse it gets. It’s one of those ones. ‘Thankfully, he’s physically quite robust. With a bit of luck, he’s avoided that situation (of a major injury). Hopefully, it’s not too long. It could have been much, much worse. Thankfully for him, it’s not.’ Cipre’s challenge went unpunished by the official, meaning he was still on the field when caught the wrong side of Sinclair just before the hour mark in what proved to be the game’s decisive moment. Motherwell were adamant the Celtic winger had not been fouled by the French defender — with Sinclair insistent there had been sufficient contact. Facing a backlash from Motherwell fans tonight, Davies would not confirm if Sinclair would start the game or not. But he is sure the player will remain unperturbed by the flak that has flown his way since the weekend. ‘We’ll see,’ he replied when asked about Sinclair’s involvement from the start. ‘We haven’t spoken about the incident. For us, it was a penalty, as the manager said after the game. We’ve moved on. We don’t want any moment like that to overshadow the result and performance for us. ‘We were dominant in the game at that point, and continued to be dominant, so it didn’t change the outcome of the match. ‘Scott’s very mentally strong. He’s a focused guy and these kind of situations won’t affect him. There’s no issues there.’