UPDATE : Martin O’Neill confirmed today that Camilo Duran is not injured and available for tomorrow night. He had to visit London to deal with a visa issue. Article below was written before this news came out.
Celtic have two huge games against Ferencvaros and Rangers this week after their disappointing collapse at Ibrox on Sunday. Martin O’Neill will be desperate to get back to winning ways but he has been handed a major potential blow ahead of the two crucial games. O’Neill will know it’s important to shift momentum and increase the feel good factor around Celtic Park after an extremely disappointing performance in Govan. The manager will want all his key players available for the two difficult games coming up this week.
Key forward misses training
However Columbian forward Camilo Duran has reportedly missed training this morning ahead of the Ferencvaros game tomorrow. He is now considered a major doubt for both the game against the Hungarians in the Europa League and the Glasgow rivals on Sunday. This will come as a major blow for the manager and the club. Most fans were expecting to see Duran play through the middle after Kasper Hogh made a disappointing start to life as a Celtic striker.
Fans and Podcasters have been speculating about whether Duran would play alone through the middle or whether MON would opt for his previous 3-5-2 formation. Whatever plans he had for Thursday and Sunday now look like they could be in disarray. It looks unlikely that the Columbian forward will be available for the Europa League tie but maybe he’s more likely to be fit for Rangers on Sunday. We won’t know the reason for missing training and the severity until the press conference. Duran had been in good form for Celtic since his arrival from Azerbaijani club Qarabag. So far he has contributed six goals this season despite mostly being played out of position on the right of a front three. The potential injury comes as a big blow during a time where he has started well in a Celtic shirt in terms of goals. The club are desperate to get back to winning ways at Celtic Park this week and do not need further injuries with Jota on the sidelines and Yang away on international duty. Striker Mheuka has not been registered for the European squad and remain unavailable.
Let’s wait and see what the manager says
O’Neill will likely be in a position to provide more information later during his press conference ahead of the game tomorrow night. Celtic fans will hope to hear the manager calm fears and state that he missed training as a precaution. Either way it now looks unlikely that the Columbian will play in the Europa league tomorrow night. We’ll have to wait and see what the manager says but overall it looks like another concern the club don’t need.
All views expressed on Celtic DNA are personal opinions and are for commentary and discussion purposes only
