Injury Scare for Iheanacho in Celtic's Europa League Victory

Celtic secured their first Europa League group stage win of the season, where they defeated Sturm Graz 2-1 at Celtic Park. But the victory was marred by early injuries to key players, including Nigerian striker Kelechi Iheanacho.

The 29-year-old Super Eagles star, who had played 90 minutes in the Hoops' recent 2-0 league loss to Dundee, was on the pitch for just four minutes yesterday before being withdrawn. Iheanacho pulled up holding his thigh and was replaced by Johnny Kenny. Alistair Johnston was also substituted earlier, just 26 minutes into the match.

Goals from Liam Scales and Benjamin Nygren sealed the important win – much to the delight of manager Brendan Rodgers. However, the former Leicester City coach confirmed his concern for the injured pair in his post-match conference with TNT Sports.

“The first two [Iheanacho and Johnston]? It doesn’t look great. It looks like hamstrings, but okay, that’s what happens,” Rodgers stated.

The manager also addressed the difficulties of managing substitutions, saying, “Well, our problem was, in the second half, that we could only make one substitution... you only have three moments to make the subs in the game.”

Rodgers did, however, praise the players who came off the bench, including Kenny and Colby. “I thought the guys that came in – I thought Colby, for a young guy coming in, I thought he grew in the game, got better and was more secure as the game went on... And Johnny [Kenny] came in and ran his heart out, threatened in behind and pressed the game... So the guys came in and stood up to it really well,” he concluded.

The injury comes at a difficult time for Iheanacho, who was reportedly just finding his goalscoring form. The striker will now be anxious that the setback does not jeopardise his chances of being included in the Nigeria squad for the AFCON 2025 tournament scheduled for December.