Celtic have been handed fresh Glasgow Derby blow

Celtic will have hopes of making a Premiership title challenge in the second half of the campaign, having already lifted the Scottish League Cup in December. As things stand, Ange Postecoglou’s side sit 6 points behind the Rangers in the table and while significant, it is a lead that can be overturned with 18 league games still to be played, including a trio of Glasgow Derbies.

With how tight it has looked between the two Glasgow giants in recent times, it might very well come down to their games between each other, which end up determining the destination of the Premiership title.

In that regard, the Rangers already have a huge advantage considering that Celtic could not beat them even once in the previous season and lost the first Glasgow Derby of this campaign, at Ibrox, as well.

And now, Postecoglou’s side have been handed a fresh Glasgow Derby blow. As reported by the Daily Record, Japan will allow their foreign-based players to enter the country for their upcoming World Cup qualifiers. That means that Celtic could miss as many as four of their stars – Kyogo, Daizen Maeda, Reo Hatate and Yosuke Ideguchi.

Celtic handed fresh Glasgow Derby blow

Kyogo and Maeda have both been part of the Japan national team in recent times and one would expected them to be called up. Hatate is someone who could be selected as well after his impressive 2021 campaign.

It must also be pointed out that Tom Rogic would be expected to head for international duty for Australia at that point of time as well.

Celtic do have the option to request their game to be postponed, if three or more of their players are missing due to international duty. It remains to be seen though if they do end up taking that option in the near future.

This article was originally posted here

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