BRENDAN Rodgers has revealed that Celtic midfielder Reo Hatate suffered another hamstring injury during the Parkhead club’s Champions League meeting with Atletico Madrid last night and confessed he is uncertain how long the Japanese internationalist will be sidelined for.
The Scottish champions’ hopes of recording a result against their Spanish rivals were dealt a savage blow early on in the Group E game when Hatate limped off shortly after his countryman Kyogo Furuhashi had netted the opening goal.
He was replaced by Paulo Bernardo and Callum McGregor and his team mates managed to record a 2-2 draw against Diego Simeone’s side without their first choice central midfielder on the park.
But Rodgers, whose team will attempt to maintain their seven point lead at the top of the cinch Premiership on Saturday by beating Hibernian at Easter Road, confessed afterwards that losing such a key player was a significant setback.
“We had to make an early sub with Reo which was unexpected,” he said. “It is too early to say how long he will be out for. It looked like it was a hamstring. We will see how that is.”
The 25-year-old missed over a month of the 2023/24 campaign when he suffered a hamstring injury in the cinch Premiership match against Aberdeen at Pittodrie back in August.
The Hatate injury could not take the gloss of a good night for Celtic – the home team acquitted themselves brilliant against Atletico and were unfortunate only to pick up a point at the end of the 90 minutes.
“I thought it was a terrific performance, especially the first 45 minutes,” he said. “The quality of our football, the speed of our pressing, the speed in our game – it was everything that we would want.
“We were unfortunate with their penalty. One, I thought it was very harsh, and two, after the save it hits the post and goes back to their player (Antoine Griezmann, who scored an equaliser).
The Herald: “But the reaction was superb and everything I wanted in terms of playing together, pressing with intensity and having the courage and bravery to play.
“We expected them to have a spell in the game in the second half and their equalising goal was fantastic quality at this level. But we kept fighting and we showed that we could really compete with a top level team.
“I think it’s showing that we are competitive and that we can develop. We know the levels we are up against and the quality of teams. But I don’t think you can say they’ll fly back to Spain not knowing that they had a really tough game against a team that gave everything. And that’s all you can ask.”
Celtic are still in bottom spot in their Champions League group despite the draw with their La Liga rivals, but Rodgers was hugely encouraged by their display and is optimistic about what the future holds.
“It gives us the confidence to know that we can compete,” he said. “We can create opportunities and play the football that we want to play.
The team pressed the game well and passed it well for a lot of the game. There’s a bit of tiredness that comes in the last 20 minutes because we’re not used to playing at that tempo against that level of opponent. A bit of fatigue kicks in.
“But it’s the performance that gives you confidence at this level. And that was a really big performance. We just couldn’t quite get the result or the win we wanted.”
The Herald: Asked if a win was the next logical step for his rapidly improving Celtic side, Rodgers said: “It’s very difficult, that’s the reality. But we’ll do everything we can impose that intensity and hopefully we can do that.
“The football against Atletico was great. Both goals were very, very good. The players will take confidence from that. They are just going to get better and better at this level.
“You come into a game like this and you have to believe and you have to learn. The important thing was to get a result as well as a performance. I am really pleased with the performance.
“I am pleased with the result because we needed to get some points on the board. We wanted all three, but if you can’t win the game then certainly don’t lose it. I didn’t think we looked like losing the game, they didn’t have so many chances in the game despite the real quality they have. I can see development for sure.
“I am only focused on ourselves. We have three more games to go. I think we showed that we can perform in the games. We go into the next three looking to get as many points as we possibly can and see where it takes us.”
Celtic enjoyed the majority of possession against Atletico and created a number of good scoring chances up front and Rodgers confessed he was pleased that his charges were able to compete playing attractive and attacking football.
“It’s a balance,” he said. “It’s intense, the pressing and playing the football you want to play. But you have to be organised within that, you are playing outstanding teams. You can see the progress of the team.
“You will always have critics. People throw stats at you. It doesn’t really bother me, my only focus and worry is having this team and this club competitive at this level which is a really, really high level.”
