The plastic pitch at Livingston’s Tony Macaroni Arena will impact the Celtic starting lineup this weekend, confirmed manager Brendan Rodgers yesterday. In his pre-match press conference, the gaffer gave a wealth of injury updates about some key players which were both positive and negative. Reo Hatate is fit and ready to play Livi as is Cameron Carter-Vickers. Luis Palma won’t make the game and an unexpected issue has surfaced surrounding Yang. Although captain Callum McGregor may have been fit, the boss admitted that because of the astroturf pitch, he won’t be risked. “You have to consider it [the pitch]”, said Rodgers (Glasgow Times).
“With Callum, we have to think about it and it comes into the thinking, especially on the back of an international break. “We’re all hopeful in the future we’ll have quality grass pitches here and supporters will see the best possible game that they can. “But at this moment, we play on the plastic pitch, and we have to deal with it. And we think about team selection, and from Callum’s perspective, it’s too much of a risk.” At the heart of the midfield, the 30-year-old is key to Celtic. He has been missing for the past few weeks but there is a very good chance he will play at Ibrox, according to the manager. Having McGregor back in for the visit to Govan would provide the team with an almighty boost going into arguably the biggest game of their season. He is nothing short of key, particularly in the derbies, where the five-time treble-winner comes to the fore.
