The AC Milan superstar has been confirmed out of their upcoming Europa League Group Stage game against Celtic with an injury.
Celtic’s Europa League Group Stage tie against AC Milan is without doubt one of the glamour ties of the competition. In fact, it is perhaps a game that deserves to be in the Champions League in front of a massive crowd. Unfortunately, due to current global circumstances and the clubs’ current fortunes, neither of them is going to be the case.
The Italian giants have been handed a huge blow heading into the game as they will be without Hakan Calhanoglu on the day. As reported by The Scotsman, the Turkish international has suffered an injury that has left him on crutches and he won’t recover in time to feature against the Hoops.
This without doubt is a massive setback for AC Milan. Calhanoglu has been in brilliant form in the competition this season, scoring 4 goals and assisting 2 further in just 3 Europa League qualification games.
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Celtic have their own issues to worry about though. They have had a number of players out of action, either due to injury or returning positive tests while away on international duty. And at this point it does look like the majority of them will remain out by the time AC Milan visit Parkhead. The manager has only sounded hopeful about the possibility of Ryan Christie returning in time for the game.
The Hoops have been handed a very tough group in the competition as other than AC Milan, they also have to face Lille and Sparta Prague. None of these games are expected to be easy and the fans will be hoping that they can repeat the heroics of last season to go through to the knockout stage of the competition.
With 10IAR on the line, the league will be much more important to the team than European competition though. And it will be interesting to see how Neil Lennon’s sides approach these games as a result.