Celtic’s on-loan winger suffers hamstring tendon injury blow

1. Celtic’s on-loan winger suffers hamstring tendon injury blow

1. Marco Tilio of Melbourne City celebrates his second goal during the round 23 A-League Men’s match between Melbourne City and Wellington Phoenix at AAMI Park on April 10, 2023 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Graham Denholm/Getty Images)

Celtic’s Marco Tilio has suffered a hamstring tendon injury while on loan at his former club Melbourne City and is now expected to miss up to six weeks of football.

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Tilio will miss at least four weeks, including the Olyroos’ West Asian Football Federation (WAFF) U23 Championship later this month.

The Celtic loanee is also a doubt for April’s U23 Asian Cup, which doubles as Olympic qualifiers.

“Last week it was soreness and then when he came back into training, when we were pushing a little bit, he kept feeling something in his hamstring,” coach Aurelio VIdmar said, as reported by Australian outlet thewest.com.au

“So we had him re-scanned and he has a bit of a tendon issue with his hamstring. So yep, he’s out for a little while. At this stage we don’t know, it could be anywhere up to six weeks.

Marco Tilio of Australia kicks the ball during the soccer match between the Australian Socceroos and Ecuador, as part of the Socceroos Welcome Home Series, at CommBank Stadium in Sydney, Friday, March 24, 2023. Photo STEVEN MARKHAM

“He’s already feeling better, I think the symptoms will probably get better very, very quickly, but then it’s about how explosive he can get in a short space of time, I’m no expert, but it’s not that easy. So minimum will be four weeks I’d say but we just have to wait and see.”

It is a frustrating development for Tilio who re-joined Melbourne City on loan and was just finding his feet back at his old club after struggling at Celtic.

He’s obviously disappointed and frustrated. It’s been a tough year but unfortunately, these are the sorts of things that can happen in your career.

“He’s still 22 years old, he’s still got a long way to go in his career. He’s got 10 years plus and unfortunately you’re going to have these bumpy periods.

But he’s pretty headstrong, obviously disappointed, but all he can do is rehab it and get himself back as quickly as possible. And the timeframe is very short anyway, we have eight games – not a hell of a lot

The Celtic Star founder and editor, who has edited numerous Celtic books over the past decade or so including several from Lisbon Lions, Willie Wallace, Tommy Gemmell and Jim Craig. Earliest Celtic memories include a win over East Fife at Celtic Park and the 4-1 League Cup loss to Partick Thistle

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