Report: Celtic hope Patrick Roberts will return for Zenit second-leg

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Celtic will hope to have Patrick Roberts back for the second-leg of their upcoming Europa League tie.

According to The Scottish Sun, Celtic are hoping that they will be able to select Patrick Roberts for the second-leg of their Europa League last 32 tie with Zenit St Petersburg later this month.

Roberts has not played for the Hoops since the trip to Motherwell at the end of November, when he came off due to a hamstring problem inside the first 11 minutes.

But The Scottish Sun is reporting that Brendan Rodgers is soon hoping to have a cluster of first-team players back in his ranks ahead of the European tie with the Russian side, with Stuart Armstrong, Tom Rogic and Roberts looking to return at some stage.

According to The Scottish Sun, the hope for the Manchester City-owned wide-man is that he will be available to feature in the trip to Russia for the second-leg as the initial tie will probably come too soon.

Timely boost for Rodgers

Celtic go into this weekend’s game with Partick with a feeling that they have only experienced once before since Rodgers arrived in the summer of 2016 – they go into the game off the back of a domestic defeat, after being beaten 1-0 by Kilmarnock last weekend.

Having Armstrong, Rogic and Roberts back in the coming weeks will be a huge boost. While none of the trio may have quite replicated the form they showed last season, their experience will undoubtedly help the young, inexperienced Bhoys side.

Roberts is the kind of player that Rodgers will know will need to perform against Zenit if they are going to get through to the next round. He has the quality to unlock some of Europe’s best defences, so Celtic will be hoping that they get a decent result in the first-leg that gives them a great chance ahead of the rematch one week later.