Scott Brown suffers injury ahead of crucial Scotland games

Scotland boss Gordon Strachan will worry about the fitness of skipper Scott Brown after the Celtic skipper came off with a hamstring problem during the 3-0 win over Anderlecht on Wednesday night.

Scott Brown
Published 28th Sep 2017

The national team captain was replaced by Nir Bitton in the 70th minute at the Constant Vanden Stock stadium with the Scottish champions leading through a Leigh Griffiths goal and a deflected strike by Patrick Roberts.

Scott Sinclair added a third in added time to give the Hoops only their second away win in the tournament and their first clean sheet away from Parkhead.

Scotland host Slovakia on October 5 before travelling to Slovenia for their final 2018 World Cup qualifier three days later - two wins could secure a play-off spot - and manager Brendan Rodgers confirmed that Brown will be assessed in the next couple of days.

"He said when he came off - and I haven't spoken to him since - he felt something tight," said the Northern Irishman.

"And obviously (he) didn't want to aggravate it so we will not know for the next 24-48 hours where that's at."

It was Rodgers' first Champions League win as Celtic boss - the Hoops drew three games last season - and he believes they can get even better.

He said: "It was an outstanding performance and result.

"There are still areas to improve but they were absolutely exceptional.

"We did very, very well. For a Scottish team to come away, get a 3-0 victory and keep a clean sheet at this level is obviously a big achievement.

"We can be better than we were last night but the players deserve a huge amount of credit, on the back of the game at the weekend (2-0 win over Rangers), which was a high intensity game.

"To come away and deliver that type of performance, they deserve all the plaudits they get.