Following Callum McGregor’s injury that prevented him from playing in Celtic’s match against Hearts last week, two more players have been ruled out of Sunday’s match against Livingston.
Hyunjun Yang will not play in tomorrow afternoon’s Scottish Cup match against St Johnstone after Celtic lost their appeal of his red card at Tynecastle.
In a press conference on Friday, Brendan Rodgers also stated that Luis Palma is questionable for David Martindale’s team’s visit due to an injury.
McGregor and Reo Hatate, however, will not return to action until after the next international break.
Talented Celtic youngsters could feature vs Livingston
It all means that space has opened up in the Celtic match squad and two youngsters could benefit ahead of others.
After 18 minutes off the bench in the last round against Buckie Thistle, an impressive second-half showing at home to Dundee and 11 minutes against Hearts, midfielder Daniel Kelly may even make his first senior start for the Bhoys.
Tomoki Iwata and Matt O’Riley are expected to feature centrally against Livingston. However, that third spot is up for grabs and Paulo Bernardo didn’t exactly do much to cement himself as a starting pick last week.
Kelly has been heavily praised by Rodgers of late and this could be a good match to test him out, without three points on the line in a tense title race.
Elsewhere, Rocco Vata could get substantial minutes in the winger position, especially as a second-half substitute.
The smart money would be on Nicolas Kuhn and Daizen Maeda featuring as Celtic’s wide attacking starters against Livingston – or perhaps even Kyogo Furuhashi.
However, relief will likely be needed after the interval, or perhaps even an injection of fresh ideas if the scoreline is tight heading into the final half hour.
Vata is someone we know can deliver that, and after making a brief appearance against Aberdeen and playing 26 minutes in the tournament’s fourth round, there’s a potential he may have his longest game of the year.
Since both players train full-time with the senior team and were left out of the Celtic B squad for their encounter on Saturday, they will, at the at least, be named in the matchday group.
If Rodgers decides the time and conditions are perfect for them to be tested, it would be great to see them have a significant opportunity.
