Stanimir Stoilov says Celtic won’t miss injured Craig Gordon ahead of Zenit tie

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The Bulgarian believes Celtic will not miss Gordon between the sticks on Thursday night, suggesting the Hoops’ strength lies elsewhere.

Astana manager Stanimir Stoilov has said that Celtic shouldn’t be that bothered that first choice goalkeeper Craig Gordon is out injured and won’t face Zenit St Petersburg on Thursday night.

Astana and Celtic faced off earlier in the season during the qualifying stages of the Champions League, which proved to be a goal fest ending 8-4 on aggregate in favour of the Celts.

With Gordon having conceded 4 goals against the Kazakhstan champions, Stoilov was clealry unimpressed with Celtic’s defensive unit.

Gordon picked up a serious injury a couple of weeks ago in a domestic fixture, which will see the veteran miss up to 12 weeks of action.

According to the Scottish Sun the Bulgarian said: “If you force the Scots to defend, they immediately begin to have problems. And we gave them a lot of problems, we were actually better than them.

“I know their goalkeeper is out but honestly, that is not a concern for Celtic. I think they have a second and a third and a fourth goalkeeper at about the same level. If I were Zenit I wouldn’t get too excited at that.

“Zenit are the favourites, but Celtic have the instinct of a killer, they can punish at any time.”

Stoilov’s words are perhaps slightly harsh on the Celtic veteran. Gordon has admittedly made various costly mistakes for the Hoops during his time in Glasgow, however, the 35-year-old has also had his fair share of strong performances which have kept his side in the running on many occasions.

To claim that Celtic’s second, third and fourth choice ‘keepers are on par with Gordon is a serious exaggeration, especially with many Celtic fans wary over Dorus De Vries’ presence between the sticks after his recent shaky performances. If anything, Celtic’s defensive unit should share the criticism, having failed to provide the necessary protection for Gordon on too many occasions this season.

Regardless of the Gordon situation, however, Brendan Rodgers’ men have a huge task on their hands keeping the Zenit forwards at bay, having recently been leaking goals in domestic games.