By support

7th Jun, 2018 | 2:44pm

Celtic prospect a worry for crunch Euro ties after he toils against English youngsters

COMMENT

The World Cup is affecting every team differently, and one side that will be without key players for some important matches is Celtic.

With Mikael Lustig away with Sweden, it looked likely that his replacement in the Champions League qualifiers would be Hoops prospect Anthony Ralston, but there has to be a doubt about his suitability for those games.

The 19-year-old toiled for Scotland under-21s against their English counterparts in the semi-final of the Toulon tournament, which the Scots lost 3-1.

He was particularly culpable for the second goal, which saw him turned inside out by Arsenal youngster Eddie Nketiah.

People might think that Ralston is unlikely to come up against players of Nketiah’s quality in the early rounds of the qualifiers, and they are probably correct.

But these matches are so vital to the Hoops that one small mistake could cost them the near £40million that is guaranteed for reaching the group stages.

Ralston’s performance would certainly have been food for thought for Hoops boss Brendan Rodgers, who may now elect to play Jack Hendry, who isn’t a natural right-back, in the qualifiers until Lustig returns from Russia.

The Hoops boss will be hoping that the Swedes don’t go on a epic run in the tournament or there really could be problems in the Hoops defence.

In other Celtic news, Barry Hearn has a warning for the Hoops

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