Callum McGregor is ready to wear a mask as Celtic set out to pinch top spot in the Premiership against Rangers tonight.
And the Hoops could be further boosted after Daizen Maeda raced back from Japan’s World Cup qualifying win against Saudi Arabia to declare himself ready to face Gers.
Celtic boss Ange Postecoglou refused to rule out roles for the pair in the Old Firm showdown despite their chances looking slim last week.
McGregor suffered a nasty facial injury in the Scottish Cup win at Alloa – but the skipper took part in training yesterday and is ready to stick on a protective covering to play.
Maeda played 22 minutes for his country on Tuesday morning – and jetted straight back to Glasgow.
Postecolgou will assess the pair on Wednesday but it would be a major tonic with Tom Rogic not making it back from Australia duty, Nir Bitton out suspended and star turns such as Kyogo, David Turnbull and Yosuke Ideguchi on the crock list.
The Hoops can leapfrog their rivals win a win this evening and the gaffer said: “Obviously Daizen Maeda played 23 minutes so, I will wait and see how he feels in the morning.
“Whether he is part of the squad or not, he won’t be starting, but just to see where he is at.
“He is the main one. Callum McGregor trained but I haven’t made a decision on whether he will be available.
“If he does play, whenever he does play, he will have to wear a protective mask.
“No doubt he would put himself on the line. But we have to balance that against his physical well-being, he has to feel comfortable.
“Knowing Cal he understands the responsibility that he has.
“He will only play if he feels he is at his best. If he doesn’t think he can be at his best then he will wait till that time is right.
“So I’m not doubting his courage or his intent to play, but he also wants to be at his best because he knows it is an important game and he wants to help in the right possible way.
“Has he exceeded the time of recovery? Yeah, absolutely.
“Whilst it was a pretty significant injury the medical advice we had was that he could slowly get reintegrated and hopefully with a mask he feels comfortable to play and hopefully he won’t be out for too long for us.”
Postecoglou admitted he could do with a boost with his squad battered by absences.
He said: “It’s challenging us. We’ve got some significant absences at the moment, so losing Nir – who has been playing really well for us – via suspension doesn’t help.
“But that’s been our lot the whole year to be honest.
“It’s been tough with hardly any games where I have had the full list of players available this year.
“It’s one of those things we are going through.
“But so far we have dealt with it well and hopefully we can do the same again.”
Celtic haven’t beaten Rangers since December 2019 but Postecoglou insisted his new look squad won’t be weighed down by recent history.
He said: “These kinds of narratives work well but the reality is when you represent this football club, even if you’ve won the last nine, you are expected to win the 10th.
“It doesn’t matter if you’ve won or lost in previous encounters. What’s important is what you do in the next one – and that’s tomorrow night.
“We have to go out there and play our football. We have been in good form and consistent for quite a while.
“We’ll bring that and hopefully get the job done.”
