A £17,000-a-week Celtic player has been ruled out of the upcoming international break with a new injury, it has been reported.
Celtic suffer first defeat of 2024/25 against Borussia Dortmund
The Hoops tasted defeat for the first time in the 2024/25 season under Brendan Rodgers, losing 7-1 to Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League. Daizen Maeda cancelled out Emre Can’s opener in the first 10 minutes, however, after that, it was all Dortmund, with Karim Adeyemi hitting a first-half hat-trick.
A couple of Celtic players came in for criticism in the media, including left-back Greg Taylor and permanent summer signing Paulo Bernardo, and Rodgers will be looking for an immediate response against Ross County prior to the international break.
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Right-back Alistair Johnston was one Celtic player who spoke to the media after the heavy defeat in Germany and said: “We have got to understand what we did wrong, what they punished us with and what we did right. There aren’t as many things we did right in this match unfortunately, but there will be little moments where we could make a little change to be braver in our positioning, be more compact defensively and things like that. We will get it sorted out.
“It’s a really confident group we have here. We are not going to let this wobble us at all. We just have to understand it can happen, but it can’t happen again.”
Johnston was brought off with minutes remaining of the midweek encounter and looked to be in some pain, with a new Celtic injury update emerging.
Celtic injury latest – Alistair Johnston out of Canada squad
As reported by The Scottish Sun, Johnston has been left out of the Canada squad as he rehabs from a back injury. That’s according to Canada boss Jesse Marsch, who said: “Alistair Johnston and midfielder Ismael Kone are both rehabbing injuries. It’s back and ankle injuries for them.”
It seems as if Johnston, on £17,000-a-week, would have been included in the squad for Canada’s upcoming friendly against Panama if it wasn’t for this new injury, and you’d expect then that the 25-year-old will be missing against Ross County also.
So far this season, Johnston has made six Scottish Premiership appearances, scoring one goal and providing an assist, while also playing a League Cup game and two Champions League ties.
He was hailed by Steven Caldwell last year, who said on the right-back: “His real strength is his mentality in terms of the way he applies himself and how professional and athletic he is. He’s a voracious learner, always wanting to get better, challenge himself. He has an honesty, a sort of British mentality in the way he takes things on the chin and pushes forwards. The way he took different positions and philosophies and his positive outlook make him a real special player and person.”
Anthony Ralston was the man who replaced Johnston against Dortmund, so perhaps the Scot may get the nod against Ross County on Sunday.
