By support

13th Jun, 2018 | 1:39pm

World Cup is huge distraction for Rodgers ahead of Celtic fixtures that will define season

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Whilst football fans all over the World are eagerly awaiting the start of the World Cup on Thursday, one person who will be watching it wearily is Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers.

The Hoops boss will see three of his first-team regulars play in the competition – Mikael Lustig, Dedryck Boyata and Tom Rogic.

Whilst normally that would be an honour for the Hoops, this season it is more of a distraction, as it seems certain that the players will miss at least the first round of the Champions League qualifiers, the games that will define the Hoops season.

Of course, if Boyata’s Belgium, for example, go far in the tournament then there’s good chance that he could miss even more of the qualifiers, which would be bad news for the Hoops as he is one of the defenders that Rodgers trusts more than any other.

Another worry is injuries, if any of the three aforementioned players picked up a long-term injury in Russia and missed the qualifiers it would be a catastrophe for the Hoops.

Rodgers will be hoping that the players emerge from the tournament unscathed, and are back ready and raring to go for the CL qualifiers, which arguably are more important to the players than the World Cup, although at this moment in time, on the verge of the tournament, the likes of Rogic and Boyata would probably disagree with that.

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