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What now for the Celtic midfield after massive injury blow?

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After injecting new life into the Celtic midfielder over the last couple of months, Ryan Christie could be facing an extended spell on the sidelines and at the very least is set to miss crucial matches on the immediate horizon.

The 23-year-old collided with a Salzburg opponent in the second half of the 2-1 defeat, requiring a stretcher to be taken off the pitch before leaving the ground on crutches, as confirmed by Brendan Rodgers.

It’s an incredibly disappointing injury given his rise in the first-team and we can only hope the injury is not as bad as it first appeared.

There’s now a dilemma for Rodgers ahead in matches to come, starting with this Sunday’s visit to Easter Road to face Hibernian in the Scottish Premiership.

The likelihood is he’ll bring captain Scott Brown back into a starting position, but that could present its own problems.

Despite Brown’s obvious quality and influence on the Celtic team, his goal threat is minuscule in comparison to Christie, who has scored five times in his last six league matches. The captain’s last five goals for the Hoops have come over the last three-and-a-half years.

Not only that but Tom Rogic looked well off the pace against Salzburg and Scott Sinclair hardly covered himself in glory either, substituted off at half-time.

It means that Rodgers has to find a new winning blend in midfield and find it soon, with three points necessary on Sunday to keep the chasing teams at the top of the table at bay.

The burden now falls on Odsonne Edouard to start a scoring run who, along with James Forrest, has the attacking ability to carry us through a difficult period without Christie.

If Celtic have a more restrained and less ambitious midfield, it means our attacking players have to step up and produce even more than they have so far this season.

All eyes are on Sunday’s team selection.

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