Advertisement

Early Celtic team news for Aston Villa clash amid huge Kyogo Furuhashi blow

Kyogo Furuhashi
-Credit:Andrew Milligan/PA Wire


Celtic have no major injury concerns ahead of their final Champions League phase tie with Aston Villa on Wednesday night but prolific goalscorer Kyogo Furuhashi is expected to miss out.

Unai Emery's side will host the Scottish Premiership side with Villa looking to progress to the next round of the competition. Villa will look to revert the 1-0 defeat to Monaco and return to winning ways to give themselves the best chance of finishing in the top eight of the league phase table.

Celtic will head to the clash having not played since last Thursday after their league game against Dundee was postponed on Sunday due to Storm damage at Celtic Park. Brendan Rodgers will also have an almost fully fit squad with only James Forrest sidelined with injury.

READ MORE: Tyrone Mings posts injury message as worst case Aston Villa scenario ruled out

READ MORE: Paik, Iwata, Willumsson: Birmingham City injury latest before Huddersfield clash

The veteran winger suffered a knock in the Premier Sports League Cup Final against Rangers in mid-December and will be out of action for at least six weeks. Daizen Maeda meanwhile, will also be unavailable after picking up a red card in last week's 1-0 Champions League win over Young Boys.

Kyogo on the other hand, is closing in on a move to Rennes, having been a key member of the Celtic squad over the last three-and-a-half years. "Kyogo expressed an interest to leave a number of months back," Rodgers explained.

"That expression becomes stronger and obviously it gets to the stage where he clearly wants to leave. Sadly, we then have to do a deal and finalise that with him. He’s been an incredible player for the club in the three and a half years he has been here and not someone we wanted to lose but we have to accept where he’s at."

Celtic are also close to re-signing Portuguese winger Jota for a reported £9million after leaving the club 18 months ago. Although his move is expected to be completed from Rennes this week, Celtic will not be allowed to register him for Wednesday's game.

Full Celtic squad

Goalkeepers: Kasper Schmeichel, Viljami Sinisalo, Scott Bain.

Defenders: Alistair Johnson, Greg Taylor, Liam Scales, Auston Trusty, Alex Valle, Maik Nawrocki, Cameron Carter-Vickers.

Midfielders: Paulo Bernardo, Luke McCowan, Arne Engels, Reo Hatate, Callum McGregor,

Forwards: Luis Palma, Adam Idah, Nicolas Kuhn, Yang Hyun-jun.

Ruled out: James Forrest, Daizen Maeda, Kyogo Furuhashi.

What are your predictions for the game? Tell us here