Brendan Rodgers confirms further bad news for Celtic

Celtic suffered a heavy defeat at the hands of Atletico Madrid away in the Spanish capital. A lot has been made of the result on the day and most of the questions have been about the club’s transfer policy rather than the players or the manager. Unfortunately, the 6-0 loss was not the only bad news for the Hoops on the day.

Celtic looked competitive against Atletico Madrid until Daizen Maeda was sent off in the first half itself. To be honest, it did not look like a challenge that should have resulted in a red card.

Now, it looks like he got injured in the process of making it as well, which is ironic. And the Japanese international, who has been a regular starter and is one of the club’s most important players, looks set to spend several weeks on the sidelines.

As reported by Sky Sports, Rodgers said about the situation of Maeda:

"“Daizen will probably be up to six weeks out with the injury from the challenge. He has strained his medial knee ligament.“If he was in stronger in the challenge he probably wouldn’t have had the injury. The clash of feet has just opened up the knee ligament.”"

Rodgers confirms further bad news for Celtic

Maeda might not be putting up big numbers in terms of goals and assists, but he has been vital to this team to say the very least. The energy and work rate that he brings to the table throughout the entire 90 minutes is pretty much unmatched.

So, Celtic might struggle without the Japanese player in the team. They already have Liel Abada out of action as well.

Thus, the Hoops might have a tough time when it comes to the wing areas. Luis Palma is expected to start on a regular basis. And it is pretty likely that he will be joined by either Yang Hyun-jun or James Forrest.

The South Korean winger has been pretty inconsistent with his displays and might not be ready for a starting role at the moment. On the other hand, Forrest is no longer the player he once was.