Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers has confirmed that striker Leigh Griffiths will not be fit to play in the Champions League qualifier against Rosenborg on Wednesday night.
Rodgers was talking in his pre-match press conference, after already revealing that main striker Moussa Dembele would be out for two-to-three weeks with a slight hamstring issue.
Rodgers was quoted on the official Celtic Twitter page on Tuesday afternoon.
?? BR on @Leighgriff09: "He’ll return to the squad to train on Thursday. Him and @jonnyhayes15 have been out for a while now so will be good to have them back on Thursday." #CELRBK
— Celtic Football Club (@CelticFC) July 24, 2018
?? BR on @MDembele_10: "Its unfortunate because he’s looked very good over pre-season but he’ll be back fit and strong in the next few weeks. He’s with the medical team now and hopefully over the next couple of weeks he’ll be back and ready to work." #CELRBK
— Celtic Football Club (@CelticFC) July 24, 2018
Griffiths has been out with a thigh injury but has promised to return in style for Celtic, after he revealed he was selling Herbalife products.
OPINION
This might not come as much of a surprise to Celtic fans, although some will have been hoping that he might have been able to make the bench against Rosenborg with Dembele out. That’s not to be and after only training Thursday he will struggle to be anything but a minor bit-part player in the second leg against Rosenborg next week. That means Celtic will be relying on Odsonne Edouard for the goals in the home leg that will hopefully make next week’s encounter a bit easier. Scott Sinclair could get a recall and Tom Rogic is available – and you can always count on him to pop up with a goal in a big game. Rodgers has said himself that it’s really hard to get your team up to full speed before the season has properly started and here’s the proof. As champions there’s a big argument that says Celtic shouldn’t have to work through these qualifiers when English teams that haven’t won the league get a bye. But that the reality for Rodgers at the moment. Qualifying for the Group Stage of the Champions League is absolutely vital for Celtic and Rodgers will be hoping that he can find goals without two of his strikers on Wednesday.