Celtic's current injury luck is likely to run out over the coming weeks if they are not careful. The Bhoys have done pretty well on the injury front this season, with Yang Hyun-jun and Alistair Johnston the only real lengthy layoffs.
Yang returned before the brea, while Johnston is expected to return after the break for the second time this season after previously suffering a setback to his hamstring issue.
Jota has returned from his long-term layoff, Kieran Tierney, Cameron Carter-Vickers and Callum Osmand both had short stints out, but there haven't been many significant issues.
That's despite Celtic dealing with a relentless schedule that has seen them play midweek every week since the last international break. It has been a difficult period for the Bhoys in terms of workload, and it's remarkable that injury luck hasn't changed already.
Take Colby Donovan for instance. He has already played 21 games this season, which is a crazy number. It puts some players on track to play more than 50 games this season, potentially more if Celtic stay in Europe beyond the league phase.
But even with that, Martin O'Neill has been resistant to rotation, largely using as close to his best XI that he can manager, with a couple of changes here and there. It was a major surprise that he didn't rotate Tierney during that last stretch, while Donovan started all but one despite Jordan Lotomba and Anthony Ralston being in reserve. It was a similar case with the likes of Mika Baur and Callum McGregor, who had little rest.
You can understand that from the point of view of Celtic needing to establish themselves after a disappointing start to the season. O'Neill likely felt he needed to rely on his most reliable players to get the team through a tough stretch and back on good terms ahead of this international break.
But it is not sustainable. Baur picked up an ankle issue before the break, which could be caused by fatigue but more likely it was a contact issue, while Camilo Durán had to come off after an hour due to cramp for Colombia during the break.
That is fatigue related, but it could be accelerated by playing at certain altitudes and long travel.
But this luck won't last forever if O'Neill doesn't start managing his squad and giving some key players games on the bench where he can afford to do it.
The Bhoys jump back into another hectic schedule after this break, and a lack of rotation could well lead to some muscle breakdown. The Celtic medical staff should be monitoring that, and it's likely there isn't a whole lot of training being done during the weeks when there are two games, but O'Neill has to play his part before an injury ends up costing him a key player for six weeks or more, whatever the case may be.
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