Just In: Against Dortmund, Celtic will be missing one of their top players.
Just In: Against Dortmund, Celtic will be missing one of their top players.
After beating Slovan Bratislava 5-1 in their opening 2024/25 Champions League encounter under the new format, Celtic will play last year’s finalist Borussia Dortmund in a far tougher Matchday 2 struggle.
Despite their heritage, Dortmund isn’t exactly unbeatable;
just a few weeks ago, they were thrashed 5-1 by Stuttgart,
and more recently, in a 4-2 victory over “Little Ruhrderby” rivals Bochum, they struggled defensively.
But before Tuesday night’s match at Signal Iduna Park,
Celtic will be severely shorthanded as one of their most vital players will be sidelined.
Manager Brendan Rodgers ruled out starting center defender Cameron Carter-Vickers with a toe injury,
as the 26-year-old was unable to play this past weekend in what ended up being an easy 6-0 win against St. Johnstone.
After getting hurt against Bratislava, Carter-Vickers hasn’t played since,
despite initial hopes that the gifted American would be ready to play.
Without him, Celtic can still defeat Dortmund,
but it will be more difficult to contain BVB star Serhou Guirassy in the absence of Carter-Vickers.
Dortmund has already benefited greatly from Guirassy, who helped the squad defeat Bochum this past Friday.
Without Cameron Carter-Vickers available, it will undoubtedly take a team effort to stop Guirassy,
who finished second in the Bundesliga last season in goals scored to only Harry Kane of Bayern Munich.
One of the most underappreciated central defenders on the continent, the Celtic center back leads the squad with 2.6 interceptions per game and completes over 93% of his passes.
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