Celtic star’s mystery absence vs Sydney FC explained

Many Celtic fans were left fearing the worst when Giorgos Giakoumakis’ name did not appear on the team-sheet for the game against Sydney FC. He had not been pictured at training either and as a result, the supporters wondered whether the Greek striker had picked up another injury or not. It is safe to say that he has not had the greatest of injury records, since arriving at Glasgow.

In fact, his fitness issues had led him to miss most of the first half of last season and resulted in many Celtic fans writing Giakoumakis off as a transfer failure.

To his credit, Giakoumakis completely turned it around in the second half of the campaign, was the club’s most consistent goalscorer and played a huge part in them winning the Scottish Premiership ahead of the Rangers against all odds and expectations. In the process, the Greek striker became a big fan favourite.

The good news is, Giakoumakis has not picked up any injury and is instead dealing with a toe infection. There is a chance he could even be involved against Everton. As reported by the Daily Record, Ange Postecoglou said:

"“Joe was a bit sore after the last game. Giako had a bit of an infected toe so he missed training. Both hopefully will train and be available for Sunday.”"

Giakoumakis’ mystery absence in Celtic vs Sydney FC game explained

It is safe to say that Celtic did not get the result that they were looking for on the day, as Sydney FC came from a goal behind to defeat the Scottish champions by a 2-1 scoreline. Kyogo was the one on the scoresheet for the Hoops on the day.

It was a good run out in the park for a number of players though, who you would not normally see play a lot in regular games.

It was also a good chance for Postecoglou to assess some of the fringe players in the squad, ahead of the January transfer window, when he will have the chance to make a few tweaks and further strengthen the options that he has.