Saturday 18 October 2014 18:26, UK
Celtic manager Ronny Deila expects left-back Emilio Izaguirre to be available for the Europa League clash with Astra Giurgiu on Thursday.
Izaguirre was carried off in the early stages of the second half of the 5-0 victory over Ross County at Victoria Park with suspected ankle ligament damage after a heavy challenge from Michael Gardyne.
The Honduras international took the knock on the same ankle he broke at Aberdeen in August 2011, an injury that kept the player out of action for five months.
Deila will await the results of a scan on the Hoops defender, but the early indications are that Izaguirre will be fine.
"I think he is okay, you know we have to take a picture of things but it wasn't the same ankle he broke a couple of years ago," Deila said on Sky Sports 3.
"If it had been we might have been a little bit scared, but I think he will be fine."
Meanwhile, the Celtic manager was delighted by his team’s performance at Victoria Park as two goals from Tony Stokes and further strikes from John Guidetti, Callum McGregor and Jason Denayer completed the rout.
"I think the boys worked really hard and they were ready for the game. The first half was good with quality passing and good deliveries into the box," Deila said.
"We were very good, it could have been more but we are satisfied with 5-0."
County boss Jim McIntyre conceded his team were second best to Celtic, but he remains confident the players will recover from the defeat.
McIntyre said: "It was a sore one. It is a sore day for us but it is a learning curve and we have to respond to it.
"Celtic are more than capable of doing that to anyone but we are really disappointed. We never gave ourselves a chance. At 4-0 it is about pride. The game is done at half-time. You are never coming back from that.
"It is important that you make sure you compete a bit better than you did in the first half. But it is no consolation.
"I am positive we will bounce back, there is no doubt. We just have to learn from today's mistakes."
