Celtic Faces Fitness Concerns Ahead of Old Firm Derby

Celtic will go into Sunday’s Old Firm showdown with Rangers on a tightrope of fitness checks and late decisions after their Europa League setback at Celtic Park.

Martin O'Neill put his players through a recovery session on Friday, less than 24 hours after the defeat, with several key figures nursing knocks from a bruising European night. The schedule is unforgiving. The stakes on Sunday are even higher.

“The players are just a bit of a warm-down today, the lads who played most of the game, so we'll see how they are,” O’Neill said, outlining a cautious approach as medical staff pore over the damage.

Those who carried the heaviest load on Thursday were restricted to light work while the club’s physios and doctors began the real contest of the next 48 hours: getting them ready for Rangers.

There is no disguising the concern. “There's one or two lads who came off; we'll have a look to see how they are tomorrow,” the Celtic manager added, with those enforced substitutions now casting a shadow over his derby selection. One or two doubts in an Old Firm week can feel like a crisis.

The pressure has been cranked up by the context. Celtic not only have to respond to a European defeat, they must do so against the same Rangers side that dismantled them 3-0 just last weekend. That result still lingers. It sharpens every decision, every scan, every ice pack.

O’Neill knows time is not on his side. This is only the second Old Firm derby of the season, yet it already carries the weight of a test of character. The turnaround from Thursday to Sunday is brutally short, leaving little room for tactical reinvention or heavy training loads. Preparation is reduced to meetings, recovery, and hoping bodies clear themselves for battle.

By the end of the weekend, the medical reports will have told their story. So will the scoreline.