Alistair Johnston

Brendan said he is doing stuff this afternoon and expect him to be OK

 

BRENDAN RODGERS has issued a major update on Alistair Johnston ahead of Sunday's Old Firm showdown.

The Canadian emerged as a doubt for the Premier Sports Cup final after he was forced off in Croatia during the clash with Dinamo Zagreb on Tuesday.



He suffered a hip injury in the first half and was replaced by Anthony Ralston at the break.

His setback during the Champions League clash sparked fears he would be unavailable to face their rivals at Hampden for the first piece of silverware of the season.

The right-back then didn't train with his team-mates at Lennoxtown today.

But Rodgers has now eased any concerns over the defender's availability for Sunday's showpiece


The Celtic manager has revealed he expects Johnston to be fit and ready to face Philippe Clement's side at the national stadium.

He said: “The squad is healthy. We expect Ali to be healthy and he will be out on the pitches this afternoon.

“Hopefully we have everyone fit and available.

“We just gave him an extra bit of recovery on Friday morning.



“He has been an outstanding player for us and has been instrumental in our work.

“Speaking to him today, he was fine. So we expect him to be okay


Johnston himself admitted he could be in a race against time to be fit for Sunday's clash.

But speaking after the goalless draw in Zagreb, the defender said he'll do everything he can to be fit for the big derby



He said: “It was just an awkward one. We’ll do some tests on it and hopefully it’s nothing too serious.

“We’ll kind of take it day by day.

“It’s just a weird one and I was glad I could make it to half time.

“But I think it was the right decision to put Tony out there and get us through the 90 minutes.


We’re not really sure what’s going on with it, so we’ll just get home and have a look at it.

“Hopefully it’s nothing too serious and we’ll be back out on the training pitch and get ready to go for Sunday.

“It’s a match that’s circled on the calendar, it’s a match I want to be a part of.

We’ll see how the flight goes, see how tomorrow goes.


We’ll take it day by day, hour by hour.

 

Coming in to a game where it’s already won is different from starting


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Absolutely massive boost if he’s fit to start on Sunday. It’s no slant on Ralston but he’s just nowhere even close to Johnston, both defensively and going forward, particularly his relationship with Kuhn. He also seems to raise his level for these * probably more than anyone in our team, near enough every game against them he’s been an absolute monster.

 

!00%...he seems to really flourish in a good physical battle.

 

We need AJs aggression today to stop them bullying us.
He loves a good scrap against them.

 

No silly early bookings from him. Not in this fixture.

 

Thought he was so poor today. Not sure he played a forward pass and had multiple interceptions we were lucky to get away with.

 

I think he's struggling with an injury. Been limping his way through a few games lately. Give him a rest and let Ralston play.

 

You can tell he's not 100% and when we would rather play him like that instead of Ralston then it's time we got another RB in.

We play a * tonne of games plus AJ is all over the world with Canada. There are plenty of opportunities for an able back up to play.

 

He is so crucial for us and has became my favourite player. I have no idea why RBs are my favourites before I loved Andreas Hinkel but from hearing stories of the legend Danny McGrain my elders they have said AJ is the closest thing since the great man.

 

Should be nowhere near the squad obviously Sunday, give him another week off.

 

For sure was nowhere near his usual level but I think a lot of that was possibly due to him not being 100%. No coincidence he came off injured IMHO.

 

Given we have such a packed schedule after the trip to Tannadice I would be surprised if we didn't see Ralston start next weekend to allow Johnston the extra rest to hopefully get him back fully fit.

 

He was really poor in the actual game so this is a bit of a * take in all honesty

 

Might have been poor but his record since coming here isn't

 

He has 2 LC medals?

 

Clearly playing with a knock and game time taking its toll. Maybe needs resting for DU game on Sunday to help get him back firing on all cylinders. Nae issues with AR playing against them.