Maik Nawrocki has fallen foul of the injury curse affecting Celtic’s central defence.
The former Legia Warsaw man was replaced by Cameron Carter-Vickers an hour into the 3-1 victory over Motherwell and will sit out Wednesday’s match at home to Dundee.
Nawrocki suffered a hamstring injury late on in the League Cup defeat away to Kilmarnock in August and never reappeared in the first team till he was sent on for Stephen Welsh during the first half of the December 30 Glasgow Derby.
Since then he has been in and out of the side but a leg injury means that he won’t play any part in the match against Dundee as the hoops look to kick on from the dramatic late victory at Fir Park.
Tonight the Daily Record reports:
Maik Nawrocki has left Celtic facing another defensive injury sweat.
The Pole was unable to train on Monday and has since been receiving intensive treatment. The leg issue is causing concern and Brendan Rodgers is now waiting to find out the full extent of it. Nawrocki will miss Wednesday night’s league clash with Dundee and the concern for Rodgers now is how many games he will miss.
The Pole played more than an hour of the win at Motherwell before he was replaced by Cameron Carter-Vickers with the US international making his own comeback from injury at that time.
Nawrocki, a summer signing from Legia Warsaw, has been in and out of the Celtic team but was recalled for the weekend, after impressing Rodgers in training. The positive for Celtic is that Carter-Vickers is now back in the fold but it remains to be seen if Rodgers will risk throwing him into a full 90 minutes this early on his return to full match sharpness.
Carter-Vickers came through his half hour run out at Motherwell unscathed but after being injured four times this season Rodgers will be wary of throwing him back into action too soon.
The Dundee match is followed by a trip to Tynecastle on Sunday where Celtic can expect a tough challenge with Hearts led by Lawrence Shankland.
With Celtic trailing in second place in the Premiership table there is no margin for error with the strongest team required in every match.
While Nawrocki, Carter-Vickers and Stephen Welsh have all had their injury issues Liam Scales has been ever present on the left of the central defensive partnership since coming into the side at home to St Johnstone in August.
CLICK HERE for O’Neill jumps to the defence of prickly Rodgers.
