Brendan Rodgers has shared a mixed injury update ahead of Celtic’s weekend fixture — with positive news on Alistair Johnston, but a setback for Daizen Maeda.
Celtic return to Scottish Premiership duty on Sunday with an away clash against struggling Dundee at Dens Park. Sixteen Celtic players and academy talents featured for their national teams during the international break, though Maeda was not among them.
The Japanese forward had been called up for his country’s matches against Paraguay and Brazil — which Japan drew 2–2 and won 3–2 respectively — but missed both due to injury, raising concerns about his fitness ahead of the Dundee game.
Speaking at Lennoxtown on Friday, Rodgers confirmed that Maeda will not feature this weekend after suffering a hamstring issue late in the previous match against Motherwell.
“Daizen Maeda will be out,” Rodgers said. “He felt his hamstring towards the end of the last game. He went away with Japan hoping it would settle, but he didn’t play while he was there. He’ll miss this weekend, and we’ll assess him afterwards.”
The Celtic boss also revealed that Paulo Bernardo has been unwell and is a doubt for the match, while Johnston has returned to training and could be available for selection.
“Paulo’s been ill, so we’ll see how he is over the next 24 hours,” Rodgers added. “Apart from that, everyone’s fine.
Yes, Ali’s back in training, which is great news for us. Hopefully, everything goes well, and he’ll be ready for the squad tomorrow.”
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