Celtic send injury update on key player after Kilmarnock clash as ace sent to treatment room
The Celtic manager has reacted after defeating Kilmarnock on home soil.
Martin O’Neill says the break will allow him to get a look at Celtic in detail - as he provided an injury update on Mika Baur.
After getting their Europa League campaign off the ground midweek by beating Besiktas, the Premiership champions followed that up with a narrow 1-0 league win at home versus Kilmarnock. They now enter a two-week international break after a demanding run of games and manager O’Neill says he’ll now be able to have a fuller look at recent games to make a full assessment of the squad.
He said: “I'm pleased to have won. I thought it was a tough afternoon for us. We never could put the game to bed and as a result, Kilmarnock were always in the game. I thought they did well. I thought they played exceptionally well at times in the game.
Martin O’Neill on Celtic 1-0 Kilmarnock
“We saw it through and after the effort on Thursday night, I probably wasn't surprised that we didn't have the same driving energy throughout the game. It was important to have won the game. I thought that Kasper Hogh had got off the mark. We all thought that there for about 35 seconds and he didn't.
“I think myself that he would maybe have scored the next one, the chance, had he put the first one in or had the first one counted. He worked exceptionally hard for us and I was pleased with the team to have dug it out. The break will give me a chance now to look at some of the matches, things that we definitely can improve in, things that I think we maybe have done alright, that we might be able to enhance.
“And I just feel for, maybe I shouldn't say this, but I do feel for the international players. I was an international manager, and therefore a game like today, I'm always worried in case your major players end up injured, and you don't, and then when you have the players for a couple of weeks, then they go back to the club.
Celtic injury latest
“As a club manager, obviously I'm thinking about the number of games that those international players play. So it's great for some of us, not great for the international players, but I accept that playing for your country is a big, big honour.”
Baur’s ankle was left injured at full-time against Kilmarnock and the Celtic boss added: “Mika is in the treatment room at this minute. His ankle is very sore and we don't know the damage just at this minute. I assume that he'll probably wait until tomorrow to get a scan. Gosh, I'm hoping that he would not be out for terribly long. I just don't know at the moment because he's been brilliant for us.”