Celtic denied chance to rotate as player's 'one-game-a-week' holiday warning comes true

Celtic midfielder Paulo Bernardo is facing about a month out with an ankle injury.

The Portugal Under-21 international suffered the injury during last weekend’s Scottish Gas Scottish Cup win over Raith Rovers and missed the 2-1 defeat by Bayern Munich in the Champions League play-offs on Wednesday.

Manager Brendan Rodgers said: “Paulo will be out for a few weeks. He’s got his ankle in a boot so maybe four or five weeks. Paulo’s obviously done great for us this season, and what we’ve tried to do with all the players is try and ensure we keep them fit by rotating and maximising the whole squad. And obviously, sadly, he’s out for a little while but we’ve still got good numbers in that position.”

Celtic's Paulo Bernardo has an ankle injury. | SNS Group

The blow will limit Rodgers’ ability to rotate his midfield during Saturday’s William Hill Premiership encounter with Dundee United, with the second leg in Munich to come on Tuesday.

“We’ll do what we’ve done most of the season,” said Rodgers, who revealed that winger James Forrest had started running again after a foot injury. “There’s some positions that we’ll freshen up. Of course, you can’t not look at Tuesday because the turnaround is so fast. And we know that we’ll have to be at a real high level physically for that game.

“But I also know the bread and butter, we need to be at a good physical level for this game. Since the last time Dundee United played, we’ve played four games in that period but we will still bring the freshness. And I have to think of that when I’m picking the team to find the intensity and look to get the result. And then hopefully from that, we then go on to Tuesday. But it’s all about the recovery now and then picking a team that can be fresh.”

Rodgers has stressed to his players that dealing with fatigue comes with playing for Celtic. “Every game is important here,” he said. “I think players understand that. If they don’t initially, they will do. And obviously it’s my job to drive that and to lead that.

“It’s been a real unrelenting schedule but the players have been brilliant. There’s been nothing other than focus. We maybe had the Dundee game at the back end of seven games in 21 days where I felt we just weren’t quite there in our pressing. But we take our point and we learn and we move on.

Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers watches training. | SNS Group

“We’re ready, you have to be. It’s not a case of ‘you won’t be tired’. You will have moments of tiredness but that’s being at a big club. I said to Arne Engels when he came in at the beginning that his one-game-a-week holiday was finished at Augsburg. You’re coming into a big club where there’s no holidays here, and he now knows what I was talking about.

“He and all the players have been absolutely brilliant. Being a top player is managing the fatigue, managing the tiredness because you’ve got to deliver.”