Copyright scotsman
Celtic have taken advantage of a new UEFA rule to make a change to their Europa League squad ahead of the match against FC Midtjylland on Thursday. For the first time this season, all clubs involved in UEFA competition can make a maximum of one change to their submitted European squads during the group phase in order to replace an outfield player with long-term injury or illness. And Celtic have invoked the new loophole ahead of the trip to Denmark in order to provide a replacement for injured defender Cameron Carter-Vickers. Prior to his resignation last week, former Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers selected a 25-man squad for the eight ties but found no place for summer signings Jahmai Simpson-Pusey, Hayato Inamura, Shin Yamada or Callum Osmand. But after his goal-scoring cameo in the Premier Sports Cup semi-final over Rangers at Hampden on Sunday, 19-year-old striker Osmand has been added to the squad at the expense of Carter-Vickers. The US centre-back suffered an achilles injury last month which has ruled him out until March but rather than switching him out for another defender, interim manager Martin O'Neill has decided to call up Osmand to bolster the attack after an impressive substitute showing in the Old Firm derby victory, which included netting his first goal for the club to seal the 3-1 victory in extra-time. Osmand joined Celtic on a four-year contract from Fulham in June. He admitted it was “tough” being on the periphery of Rodgers’ squad earlier in the season but is delighted at how things are shaping up for him overall. “It wasn’t easy,” he said of his early months at Celtic. “Obviously it’s tough not being in squads, it sort of feels like you’re, not an outsider, but it feels like you’re not giving as much as you want to give. But hopefully now I can just keep pushing on. “I wasn’t really too sure on what to expect when I came up here. But if you’d told me a year ago that I’d be doing what I am now, I would have been so happy, even if I wasn’t playing. “I was just going to come in and obviously if I’d played, I would have been happy. If I didn’t play, then I knew it might take some time. I’m just happy where I am at the moment. Hopefully I can keep playing, keep chipping away and just see where that takes me.” Celtic currently sit 21st in the Europa League table after collecting four points from their opening three fixtures with a 1-1 draw away to Red Star Belgrade and a 2-0 home defeat to Braga followed by a 2-1 win over Sturm Graz at Parkhead a fortnight ago in Rodgers’ penultime match in charge.
