CELTIC manager Brendan Rodgers has revealed that striker Leigh Griffiths is struggling with an injury problem ahead of Wednesday's Champions League qualifier against Linfield.
The Scotland international is a doubt for the second leg clash at Celtic Park after picking up a calf problem, but Rodgers insists the niggle is not a major concern.
Griffiths started in the 2-0 first leg win in Belfast last Friday, but was charged by UEFA on Monday for provoking the home fans at the end of the game when he tied a scarf to one of the goalposts.
Read more: Celtic's Leigh Griffiths has a huge fan in the king of all Scotland strikers - Denis Law
Speaking ahead of the match, Rodgers said: “(Griffiths) might be struggling for fitness. He has a calf injury but it’s nothing serious, we’ll see how he is tomorrow.”
The Bhoys will face either Dundalk or Rosenborg in the next round should they progress and Rodgers hopes his side can show their more clinical side in the first competitive home match of the season.
He said: “We'll expect another tough game in terms of having to break down a really low defensive block.
“You have to give credit to the Linfield boys. When they sat in they made it very difficult.
“We had 27 shots and 13 on target. Tomorrow night we hope to be more clinical.”
Read more: Celtic's Leigh Griffiths has a huge fan in the king of all Scotland strikers - Denis Law
The Northern Irishman also fielded questions about two players with uncertain futures, Emilio Izaguirre and Kolo Toure.
He revealed that Honduras international Izaguirre could be leaving the club and European football altogether in the near future.
“He's come back in and been training,” said Rodgers.
“There's maybe an opportunity for him to go elsewhere outside of Europe. It's something we'll speak with him and his agent about and then we’ll take it from there.”
Former Liverpool defender Toure joined the Hoops last summer on a one-year contract, but Rodgers suggested the Ivorian could still have a future at Parkhead in an off-pitch role.
"His contract is up but there will always be a door open here for him for a different role if that’s what he sees."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel