Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers has confirmed he is facing something of a crisis in the heart of the defence after revealing that Marvin Compper is “highly unlikely” to feature during the next round of Champions League qualifiers.
The Hoops made it through to the next stage thanks to victory over Alashkert, setting up a tie with Rosenborg next week, but the Bhoys could be missing a whole host of central defenders.
Jozo Simunovic will be suspended after picking up a red card in Wednesday’s clash, while Compper is set to miss out thanks to an injury blow, and he could be joined by the returning Mikael Lustig on the sidelines, with Dedryck Boyata still away after his World Cup exploits.
Rodgers told the Daily Record: “It gives us a problem.
“Every pre-season there is always an issue with centre-halves. Marvin (Compper) has a problem with his abductor so we’ll see how that is but it’s highly unlikely he’ll be available.
“With Boyata, I don’t know – I’ll need to assess that over the next few days. With Mika, it’s a possibility but we have to respect he’s been at the World Cup and played a long season, when he comes back he won’t be fit and it’ll take a couple of weeks to get up to speed.”
Opinion
This is not what Rodgers wants to be dealing with right now, and it could be that he has to enter the transfer market over the next week just to bring in someone who can fill the gap. Beating Rosenborg is the only way that Celtic are going to make it to the Champions League group stages and failure to do so would be seen as a massive disappointment by the fans, board and the squad. It looks as though it could be a makeshift defence for the first leg at least, with round pegs slotted into square holes, and the manager will be hoping that he at least has one or two of his more preferred options available for the second clash. As the former Liverpool boss says, central defenders have been a constant issue for him, and it just would not feel like summer if he was not battling with those issues once again.