Why did Brendan Rodgers not pick Anthony Ralston for Celtic draw?

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Celtic go into the second-leg of their Europa League tie off the back of an underwhelming goalless draw in the Scottish Premiership.

With Celtic going into the second-leg of their Europa League last 32 tie with Zenit St Petersburg with only a precarious lead, it is no surprise that Brendan Rodgers made a raft of changes for the Hoops’ Scottish Premiership clash with St Johnstone at the weekend.

One of the changes for the game against Tommy Wright’s men involved Mikael Lustig dropping out of the team, with Cristian Gamboa going in at right-back and Anthony Ralston moving up to the bench for the stalemate.

But with Rodgers confirming that Lustig is set to be fit for the second-leg in Russia later this week, in comments reported by the Daily Record, it surely begs the question: why did Ralston not start the league game ahead of Gamboa?

While Lustig has not been at his best this season, it would have been a major surprise if either was going to be picked against Zenit unless the Swede was not fit for the game.

Unlike Gamboa, Ralston appears to have the potential to get significantly better and ensure that he becomes almost as important to the team as fellow academy graduate Kieran Tierney is on the other flank – so not giving him the chance on Sunday seems to be something of a mistake given that he seemingly did not need to be protected for Thursday’s game with Lustig set to return.

Ralston has shown that he is already good enough to cope with most of the teams in the Scottish Premiership, so giving him a chance against the Saints would have actually been as risky as picking Gamboa, and may have given him some much-needed game-time and a little more experience that may have proved useful if Lustig is not ready in time for Thursday.

And surely, picking a player who is surely unlikely to ever become a first-choice option for the Hoops over one of the brightest prospects coming through for a game that had little riding on it sends completely the wrong message out to the rest of the youngsters who are hoping that the path to the first-team is there.