Celtic late team news: Call made on returning duo, Lagerbielke clue, fringe players chance, probable XI

How Celtic will likely line-up against Feyenoord in final Champions League group fixture

Celtic host Feyenoord in the Champions League on Wednesday. (Photo by Ross MacDonald / SNS Group)

Brendan Rodgers has hinted that he could be ready to give Celtic fringe players a chance to impress on the Champions League stage as the club conclude a disappointing campaign at home to Feyenoord on Wednesday.

Celtic are bottom of Group E and playing only for pride in the knowledge that they will exit Europe regardless of their result against the Dutch champions having collected just one point from their five fixtures thus far.

Rodgers confirmed that neither defender Cameron Carter-Vickers nor forward Daizen Maeda will feature in the match despite both returning to training this week after injury lay-offs. The duo are targeting a possible return against Hearts on Saturday with the Feyenoord encounter coming just too soon.

Reo Hatate was also out on the training field this week, although not taking part in the full session with his team-mates, after returning from Japan following the first part of his rehabilitation from a hamstring injury. The midfielder does not look likely to return before the winter break, along with winger Liel Abada.

Rodgers has handed rare starts to Tomoki Iwata, Mikey Johnston and Oh Hyeon-gyu in the past two domestic games and he will partly use Wednesday’s match to continue assessing his January transfer window needs.

A social media post from defender Gustaf Lagerbielke has sparked speculation that he could be brought in from the cold for his first appearance since the 2-1 win at Motherwell on September 30. The Swedish international posted “soon” followed by the stars emoji on his Instagram page on the eve of the Champions League clash.

Nat Phillips has been preferred to Lagerbiekle as Liam Scales’ centre-back partner, but the on-loan Liverpool defender scored an own goal in an unconvincing display in the 2-1 defeat at Kilmarnock on Sunday as Celtic suffered their first loss of the Scottish Premiership campaign.

Maik Nawrocki is another centre-half who has barely played under Rodgers since joining in the summer from Legia Warsaw. The Poland Under-21 international suffered a hamstring injury in August but has been fit now for some time. He was on the bench at Rugby Park on Saturday and could come into Rodgers’ thoughts.

Celtic predicted XI: Hart, A.Johnston, Phillips, Scales, Taylor; Iwata, McGregor, O'Riley; M.Johnston, Palma, Kyogo.