Celtic hosted Blackburn Rovers at Parkhead to continue their preparation ahead of a very important campaign, where they will be defending the Scottish Premiership crown and making their return to the Champions League after several years. The stakes will be much higher than last time, when nobody even expected the Hoops to compete for titles.
The Scottish giants have made good use of the ongoing summer transfer window. But now, it remains to be seen whether the signings will help the Hoops improve when it comes to their on-field performances.
Their pre-season started with a stunning 7-0 victory over Wiener Viktoria but their next game against Rapid Wien ended in a 3-3 draw. After defeating Banik Ostrava 4-2 in midweek, Celtic could only manage a 2-2 draw against Blackburn Rovers.
Of course, it is just only pre-season but with the Premiership campaign starting in a couple of weeks, Celtic will now have to start picking up pace as well. The performance against Blackburn Rovers had its pros and cons, but a worry was seeing Anthony Ralston limp off late in the game.
Ange Postecoglou delivers update on Celtic star who was injured against Blackburn Rovers
As reported by the Daily Record, speaking after the game, Postecoglou said about Ralston:
"“Ralston is alright, he got a cut on his foot and a couple of stitches but nothing serious.”"
Thus, while Ralston has had to get stitches, it does not look like something that will keep him out of action for long. That is great news to be honest because he has looked like a player transformed under the management of Postecoglou and become a very important part of this team.
While Josip Juranovic is the first-choice at right-back, Ralston is someone that the Hoops can count on as well, to come up with some big moments and have an impact on games, like he did throughout the previous campaign and played a big part in the double.