Liel Abada back in Celtic fold as decision looms over selection for crunch clash

The Israeli sat out the Scottish Cup fifth round win over St Mirren after being given some time off by the Parkhead gaffer.

Liel Abada is back in training with Celtic after Brendan Rodgers gave him time off to get his head right.

The manager left the Israeli international out of the Scottish Cup win over St Mirren at the weekend and post-match revealed he was mentally on point. But Record Sport understands the 22-year-old is now back with the Hoops first-team squad at Lennoxtown but it remains to be seen if he will be in the squad for the weekend home clash with Kilmarnock. Rodgers, speaking after Sunday’s St Mirren win, confirmed: “He wasn’t in the right frame of mind.

“I’ve spoken a lot to Liel and it has been a challenging time for him. I just felt when he came into the game the other night, it just wasn’t him. So we gave him this chance to have a few days and clear his mind. I’ll have a chat with him again next week, see where he’s at.”

Abada has been put in an almost impossible situation with the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestine. A section of the Celtic support have regularly flown Palestinian flags and chanted their support for the state.

That has been significantly ramped up since the recent conflict started and has left Abada in an uneasy position because of the on-going tensions. He is already under pressure from a lot of influential people back in Israel because of the situation and the positioning of a small proportion of the Celtic fan base.

Abada has been one of Celtic’s main players since he moved from Maccabi Petah Tikva in 2021. He signed a new four year contract back in September.