Nir Bitton has been sent back to Celtic after suffering yet another devastating injury blow.
The Israeli is returning from national-team duty and will miss the game against Scotland having sustained a muscle tear in a groin.
Bitton has not played for Celtic since the end of January having damaged ankle ligaments during a defeat to St Mirren.
He will now be assessed for his latest setback with less than two months of the domestic term to go and a Scottish Cup bid imminent.
The 29-year-old was back on the bench for last weekend’s draw against Rangers and travelled for international duty with his country, but now faces another spell on the sidelines and could be battling to return before campaign conclusion after sustaining the issue in the final training session before his team’s 2-0 loss to Denmark on Thursday night.
An Israeli FA statement read: “Nir Bitton was injured in the groin. He underwent an ultrasound examination which revealed that he was suffering from a tear.”
Bitton has been limited to just 21 appearances for Celtic this season due to injury issues and the arrival of Shane Duffy and now there will be more time spent on the sidelines as he recovers from this latest setback.
