Celtic handed fresh injury worry as Martin O’Neill reveals Mika Baur assessment
Celtic manager Martin O’Neill has provided an update on Mika Baur’s injury following Sunday’s narrow 1-0 victory over Kilmarnock at Parkhead.
Liam Scales scored the only goal of the afternoon as the Hoops secured another three points to move four clear at the top of the Scottish Premiership heading into the international break.
However, there was concern surrounding Baur’s condition, with the midfielder suffering an ankle injury during the encounter.
Speaking to CelticPlayer after the match, O’Neill revealed the initial assessment suggested a potentially significant sprain.
He said: “We’ve all gone into see him there, and Tim [Williamson] was telling me there now that it might be a heavy ankle sprain. That’s what we’re hoping it is, rather than anything else, but it’s too early to say.”
Reflecting on the performance, O’Neill admitted his side were not at their best following Thursday night’s dramatic Europa League victory over Besiktas.
He continued: “Delighted to have won the game after Thursday night’s exertions. I thought we were not at our very, very best today.
“Having said this, we spurned a number of very, very good chances in the game. Sam Johnstone makes a big, big double save for us in the first 90 seconds of the game.
“And I’m just delighted to have won, John. Really delighted, because [it was a] big, big effort Thursday night, coming back on Sunday again… we’ll see the break through, and we’ve won.”
Celtic also missed a penalty late in the contest, while Kasper Hogh saw a potential confidence-boosting goal ruled out following a VAR intervention.
Asked whether his side could have made the afternoon more comfortable, O’Neill added: “Oh, we could’ve done. Even in the last fifteen minutes of the game when we missed a penalty.
“You have to make sure that, when you’re on top of the game, if you can, at all possibly, bury it. We were unable to do that throughout the whole 90 minutes of the game, and the penalty would’ve left us more comfortable.”
On Hogh’s performance, he said: “I’m delighted with him. I thought he’d got off the mark, it’s obviously disallowed, then he had a really decent chance after.
“I suppose missing that chance is someone who hasn’t scored for a while. I honestly think that if the first goal counted, he would’ve taken the second chance. But overall, yeah. I’m just very pleased to have won the game in difficult circumstances.
“Again, you could say that perhaps we made it difficult for ourselves. but even so, just really pleased. I thought Kilmarnock played strongly; I thought tactically they were very, very good and caused us problems throughout the afternoon.”
Discussing the upcoming international break, O’Neill said: “The international break is absolutely no good to the international players.
“You just mentioned Scales, and Scales has been absolutely wonderful. I don’t know what he’s been like at the club before that, I’m sure he’s been a really fine player. In my time, he’s been sensational for us.
“Yes, occasionally, he’s a centre half. Sometimes I’m expecting him to play the ball like an inside forward or something like this here. But overall, he’s been terrific. He’s come up with some big, big goals, but he’s come up with some big, big moments offensively for us in my time.”
“HAVE YOUR SAY –” Join the Celtic conversation in our comments section below…
The post Celtic handed fresh injury worry as Martin O’Neill reveals Mika Baur assessment appeared first on Celtic Shorts.
