Ange Postecoglou offers blunt Celtic fixture pile up verdict as he addresses Champions League 'burden'

Ange Postecoglou admits his Celtic squad is creaking under the strain of a fixture pile-up after star winger Jota became the latest player to limp into the treatment room.

Jota missed training at Lennoxtown on Monday with a ‘muscle strain’ and ‘fatigue’, ahead of the Champions League showdown with RB Leipzig. And Postecoglou admits he’s bracing himself for more casualties as his side faces a hectic schedule as the clock ticks down to the World Cup Finals next month.

Asked if the workload has become too heavy for his side the Aussie said: “It is. We have 13 games in 44 days and you look at the level of games you have got to play. We played Wednesday night in Leipzig, we got home on Thursday at 3am and we played at lunchtime on Saturday. The players had just recovered from that trip and they are playing again tomorrow night and then on Sunday night.

"It is too much of a burden. Usually you will have some midweek games, but they are always broken up. I guess it is just the nature of the season this year – we are jamming a lot of games into a short space of time because of the World Cup.”

And Postecoglou agreed with Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp who insisted, ahead of last week’s visit from Rangers, that fewer matches would be better for the game in general.

The Celtic manager said: “I think so, if you want top level performances. As in any other profession, the people who are the most important - the players - have to be able to recover if you want to maintain performances.

“It is just the way it is. I think we have got 13 games in 44 days. It is impossible for us, or any other club for that matter, to maintain a level of performance with that sort of workload. We try to manage that through having a squad and rotating the