Celtic’s performance against Atletico Madrid really was something special last night.
Being at the game, the atmosphere, the tempo the players set and the belief that Brendan Rodgers’ side showed to compete with the La Liga challengers was brilliant to watch.
Unfortunately, though, it was that exact same tempo that may have caused Celtic midfielder, Reo Hatate, to pull up with an injury last night.
At around five minutes, Hatate was taken off by Brendan Rodgers and the Celtic manager provided an update on the Japanese star post-match.
Rodgers said when asked about Hatate’s injury, [BBC Sportsound], “It’s too early to say. It looked like a hamstring but we’ll see how that is.”
Reo Hatate will be a huge miss for Celtic
Hamstring injuries are not good. Minimum, Hatate could be out for at least four weeks. It’s an injury that seems to have plagued Celtic over the last three seasons.
David Turnbull suffered the same injury in Ange Postecoglou’s first season at the club. The Scotland star was enjoying a rich vein of form until it put him out for a couple of months.
By the time he returned, Matt O’Riley and Hatate had embedded themselves into the side and Turnbull has struggled to fight his way back in ever since.
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Kyogo Furuhashi also suffered a hamstring injury twice in that same season and under Rodgers, Cameron Carter-Vickers fell victim to it at the beginning of this season.
Hopefully, it’s just a pull and Hatate will be back in the side sooner rather than later. Obviously, he will miss the Hibernian game this weekend and the St Mirren match next Wednesday.
With Ross County at home on the 4th of November followed up by Atletico Madrid, Celtic are entering a crucial period just before the international break where they need a full squad to cope with the never-ending fixtures.
Fingers crossed for the Japan midfielder. Hopefully, it’s not as bad as these injuries can be and he will be back in the squad as soon as possible.
In other news, ‘It’s just crazy’: Craig Moore can’t believe how 25-year-old player is still at Celtic this season