CELTIC manager Brendan Rodgers has revealed Cameron Carter-Vickers will return to training this week and expressed hope the centre half will be available for the massive William Hill Premiership match against Aberdeen on Saturday week.

Carter-Vickers missed the Champions League defeat to Borussia Dortmund in Germany on Tuesday night and the Premiership triumph over Ross County in Dingwall this afternoon due to a toe injury.

However, Rodgers, whose men recorded a narrow 2-1 triumph at the Global Energy Stadium thanks to a late Nicolas Kuhn strike which keeps them level on points with Aberdeen at the top of the table, is optimistic the United States internationalist will be available imminently.  

Speaking about Carter-Vickers and left back Greg Taylor heading into the international break, he said: “Hopefully, they'll be back. Cam will be joining training later on this week and then can have a good week leading into Aberdeen. So that's good.

“Greg will just have to wait and see. I thought young Alex Valle did well today, especially in the second half. His positioning was a little bit better. But Greg, we hope he'll be back. If he's not ready for Aberdeen, then not long after that.”

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Meanwhile, Rodgers has stressed he had no complaints about referee Kevin Clancy awarding County a penalty for a Liam Scales handball or ordering Ronan Hale to retake the spot kick which Kasper Schmeichel saved for the goalkeeper coming off his line.

He did, however, joke that he was surprised his countryman Hale, who took his tally for the 2024/25 campaign to seven, had wanted to score against his boyhood heroes.

“I've seen it back,” he said. “Sometimes, even if it's a slow run up, like that, then sometimes you want to get forward. There's no doubt that whenever young Ronan took his shot he was off his line.

“I was just more surprised that Ronan scored against Celtic. I said to him, ‘Are you scoring against Celtic? A Celtic boy?’ But, no, he's made a great start to his life in Scotland. I think he's scored four goals now in eight games. He's been a really good reference for the team.

“Overall, Don's had a really, really good start this season to his career and managing. Thankfully we produced a really good second half to get the result.”

(Image: PA) Asked about the prospect of Hale representing Northern Ireland, he said: “I'm glad they've got a boy from Belfast who Michael (manager O’Neill) can call upon. Normally he can't. It's great for him.

“He's obviously done great back home at Cliftonville. He's come over at a good age with good experience. And he's shown here he can score goals. Games like today will help him in his career.”