HAPPY RETURNS
Celtic boosted by fit-again quartet amid Rogic blow
BRENDAN RODGERS last night admitted defeat in his battle with the Australian FA to retain the services of Tom Rogic for next weekend’s Old Firm derby.
The Celtic manager did, however, confirm that he will welcome a host of first-choice players back from injury for the festive double against Aberdeen and Rangers.
Odsonne Edouard, Kieran Tierney, Mikael Lustig and Dedryck Boyata are all fit and available to play in the Boxing Day clash at Pittodrie.
Rogic is also set to start at Aberdeen but will then fly out to Dubai to meet up with his international colleagues as they prepare for the forthcoming Asian Cup. With Australia’s first group match against Jordan scheduled for January 6, Rodgers had hoped
to broker a compromise with national coach Graham Arnold.
However, as he savoured a 3-0 victory over Dundee that carried his team three points clear at the top of the Premiership, Rodgers revealed the Australians had drawn a line under the issue.
He said: ‘Tom will play in the Aberdeen game and then he’ll fly out. He’ll miss the Rangers game, as far as I’m aware, which is a shame for him and a shame for us.
‘We feel a sensible compromise could have been taken for all the players in their squad. You can’t say it’s the same for everyone because everyone is different. Everyone has different needs and this is a great game for him to be involved in.
‘It’s a shame but we’ll just have to prepare without him.
‘Our feeling is he won’t be here, he’s got to go back. We move on.’
Australia’s hard-line stance has also affected Hibs manager Neil Lennon, who has three players — Mark Milligan, Martin Boyle and Jamie Maclaren — named in the Australia squad.
Australia’s head of performance Luke Casserly said: ‘We have to protect the integrity of our national teams and we will do that.
‘Graham Arnold has been in constant communication with Brendan Rodgers regarding Tom Rogic and the fact is nations like Iran and Saudi Arabia are already in camp.
‘We haven’t called everybody in at the first possible opportunity. We’ve allowed them to play games.
‘There has to be a cut-off point and we will basically have all the players flying out Christmas night, or Boxing Day night, to assemble in Dubai by the 27th.’
While admitting his disappointment at losing Rogic for his team’s final test before the winter break, Rodgers insisted yesterday’s game ranked among his most enjoyable matches since taking over in 2016.
Especially pleasing was the two-goal contribution of teenager Mikey Johnston, who filled in at centre-forward in the absence of Edouard.
Edouard should return at Aberdeen and will be joined by Tierney, Lustig and Boyata, who have all nursed injuries in recent weeks.
‘We wanted to leave Kieran to recover this week,’ said Rodgers. ‘He should hopefully be fine for next week’s two games.
‘With Odsonne, it was just a case of shutting him down for a few days and letting him rest and recover. He, Lustig and Boyata will be back available for the games.’ Dundee manager Jim McIntyre said of yesterday’s defeat: ‘It was a deserved scoreline. Celtic were very good, their movement was so fluid and caused us loads of problems.’