Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers will be hoping that his players come back from the international break without any major injuries or incidents that affect how they perform for the club in the weeks to come.
He has already had to deal with a blow to Adam Idah, who withdrew from the Ireland squad before any matches took place, and it remains to be seen what the severity of that is.
The likes of Alistair Johnston, Anthony Ralston, Luis Palma, who scored two for Honduras against Mexico, and Arne Engels, among others, have already competed for their countries and avoided any issues.
However, one Celtic star had a night to forget – to put it lightly – as central defender Liam Scales was left embarrassed against England at Wembley.
Liam Scales’ performance against England
The Ireland international lined up on the left side of a three-man central defensive unit, as part of a back five, against the Three Lions in the Nations League on Sunday.
Scales had a very strong start to the game and won four of his five duels, including one crunching challenge on England captain Harry Kane in the middle of the park.
The left-footed defender, however, was left embarrassed by Jude Bellingham, who was signed by Real Madrid for £88m in the summer of 2023, at the start of the second half.
As you can see in the clip above, the superstar midfielder sold the centre-back a dream with his first touch and tricked the Celtic dud into tripping him up, giving away a penalty.
That resulted in his second booking of the match and a red card, after he picked up a yellow card in the first half for delaying the restart, pushing the ball away with his hand before kicking it away moments later – forcing the referee’s hand.
Scales, who was handed a player rating of 5/10 by the Independent, was embarrassed by Bellingham and let his team down in the process.
Scales vs England | |
|---|---|
Minutes played | 51 |
Touches | 27 |
Accurate passes | 16/16 |
Clearances | 5 |
Interceptions | 1 |
Tackles | 1 |
Blocked shots | 1 |
Ground duels won | 1/2 |
Aerial duels won | 3/3 |
Fouls | 1 |
Stats via Sofascore. | |
The score was 0-0 at the time, in the 51st minute, and his side went on to be thrashed 5-0 with ten men in the second half.
What this could mean for Liam Scales
This could be bad news for the Irish flop after the international break if Cameron Carter-Vickers is back fit and available for selection against Hearts.
Carter-Vickers and Auston Trusty were preferred as the first-choice centre-back pairing in the games against Aberdeen in the semi-final of the League Cup and against RB Leipzig in the Champions League, before Scales came back in against Kilmarnock as the former Spurs man missed out through injury.
His naive performance against England at Wembley will do little to show Rodgers that he should be his go-to centre-back alongside either Carter-Vickers or Trusty moving forward.
It is now down to the left-footed titan to return to Glasgow this week and show the manager that he can bounce back quickly and nail down a regular starting spot ahead of his positional rivals at Parkhead.
With games against Aberdeen and Club Brugge in the weeks to come, Scales will need to show Rodgers that he is not likely to repeat his Wembley howler on the biggest stages for the Hoops.
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