Scottish Champions Celtic may be praying for a miracle as the prolific Zenit St Petersburg gear up for a daunting Europa League clash.
Brendan Rodgers has not made many mistakes since being appointed Celtic manager in the summer of 2016.
But he could be forgiven for wondering whether he made the wrong call in farming Erik Sviatchenko out to FC Midtjylland on loan during the January transfer window. The Celtic fans certainly believe he did.
The Danish centre-back returned home during the mid-season window and, a month later, Celtic are enduring something of a defensive crisis.
Ahead of Thursday’s Europa League last 32 clash with Zenit St Petersburg, Nir Bitton, Marvin Compper and Dedryck Boyata are injured while Jozo Simunovic, arguably at fault for both goals in the weekend’s 3-2 Scottish Cup win against Partick Thistle, is enduring a dreadful run of form.
Did we mention that no side scored more goals than Zenit in the Europa League group stages?
And while Sviatchenko barely featured under Brendan Rodgers in the first half of the season after tumbling down the pecking order, the decision to let him leave could come back to haunt the Celtic boss as his makeshift back line prepare to take on Zenit’s array of impressive attackers.
Sviatchenko lacks pace and is not short of an error or two. But Celtic need back-up and the fans would love to call on him right now.
Club needs Erik Sviatchenko back https://t.co/wPSNu2ZkQD
— Jack (@jackmcneilly) February 15, 2018
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