Celtic have suffered a blow for their Champions League qualifying clash against Rosenborg after UEFA confirmed that they had handed out an additional one game ban for defender Jozo Simunovic after his red card against Alashkert.
The 23-year-old was dismissed in the second leg of the qualifier for a high tackle, and missed the Hoops’ 3-1 win over the Norwegian side in the next round of the competition.
However, manager Brendan Rodgers will have to do without the centre back once again after a UEFA statement revealed the ban would be extended for two games, with Sky Sports quoting the governing body as stating: “The CEDB has decided to suspend the Celtic player Simunovic Jozo for two UEFA competition matches.
“The player has already served one match and will therefore be suspended for the next match for which he would be otherwise eligible.”
Opinion
While it will come as a blow for the Bhoys, it should not be too much of a surprise. Simunovic’s tackle was somewhat reckless and in this day and age, he was never going to get away with it. Some deemed it worthy of a yellow, while others agreed that he was right to pick up his marching orders. Now he will sit out not one but two of the Hoops’ ties, and with Rodgers having to manage a lack of centre backs at the moment, it could not have come at a worse time. Simunovic might be a solid defender but he is also a liability with his reckless behaviour, having picked up a red card at the end of last season as well. What can be said is it is all or nothing with the centre back – he only picked up three yellow cards in 30 appearances during the last campaign, which is not a bad record for a centre back. If only he could keep his head, Celtic might not have found themselves in this position.