Captain Brown’s apology after Griffiths injured back

Celtic striker Leigh Griffiths revealed skipper Scott Brown apologised to him for questioning his injury, which turned out to be a fractured back.

Both were on Scotland duty in the World Cup qualifier against Slovenia at Hampden Park last month when the 26-year-old took a dunt from visiting keeper Jan Oblak before the break.

Brown was unimpressed when his Hoops team-mate failed to recover before being replaced by Steven Naismith in the opening minutes of the second half, but was more understanding when scan results came through.

The former Wolves attacker has not played since, but is hoping to be back for the trip to Ross County in the Ladbrokes Premiership tomorrow.

After an open training session at Celtic Park, which attracted several thousand, mostly younger, supporters, Griffiths spoke about his injury.

He said: “It was a little fracture in my back. The physios said it wasn’t going to be too long, which is a bonus, and thankfully it has healed pretty quickly and I am back on the training pitch.

“I just thought it was a knock and I wanted to play on in the second half. I had missed a couple of chances in the first half and I didn’t want to let the country down.

“I started the second half but I couldn’t run anymore and that’s why I slumped to the ground. Broony was giving me a bit of stick, saying that he wanted me to carry on, and he carried on the stick until I got the results of the scan back and his face dropped when he heard it was a fracture.

“So I got a bit of an apology from him, but it was a freak accident and it has cleared up and hopefully I have a clear run to the end of the season.”