How Celtic's Liel Abada injury could have been avoided - 'I've had this before with Suso'

Celtic potentially losing Liel Abada for four months to a thigh injury sustained in a training while with Israel could have been avoided, Brendan Rodgers has maintained.

Celtic winger Liel Abada will have learned a lesson after picking up a thigh injury that could rule him out for up to four months, according to his manager Brendan Rodgers.(Photo by Craig Foy / SNS Group)

The Irishman is exasperated that the 21-year-old pulled up during a shooting exercise at the end of a session during the international break. And while he doesn’t place any blame on Israeli head coach Alon Hazan for that – even as he would be open to a conversation if contacted – the 50-year-old believes the situation represents a sobering lesson to be learned for Abada.

“To be out with something that you can actually control is the frustrating thing … control as in ‘don’t do the shooting exercise at the end of training,” Rodgers said. ‘I had this before with a young player, Suso, who plays at Sevilla [formerly of Liverpool]. When you fly and then you land and go out to training, your legs are still full of pressure from flights. So when you are shooting and doing repetitive exercises that puts strain on them. It’s certainly something you can avoid, but young players see a net and they want to hit it. It will be a good learning for Liel going forward.

“I would never tell an international manager how to do his job, but if he {Hazan] wants to speak to me or come into training my door is always open. I think there is lots of collaboration between sports science and medical teams and confederations. But I would never [say anything to] an international manager unless he called me.”