Emilio Izaguirre to retire as Celtic hero gets emotional after latest career setback

Emilio Izaguirre looks set to retire at 36 as the former Celtic defender has been released by Marathon in Honduras.

The former Parkhead star has been in his homeland since leaving the club in 2019 and has racked up 77 appearances for Motagua and Marathon. But he's had his struggles with injury recently and hadn't featured in 2022 after suffering a knee problem.

Izaguirre was a hero at Celtic and won 12 major honours over his two spells, including seven Premiership titles. He won every domestic trophy more than once over his eight years combined and was a key player for Neil Lennon, Ronny Deila and Brendan Rodgers. The veteran defender returned to his homeland three years ago with his first club Motagua, but moved to bitter rivals Marathon after a dispute with their manager. And he's now been let go after failing to win back his first team place.

He's hinted he could now be ready to retire from the game. He posted a message which stated: "Thank you my God for all your blessings, more than 19 years of football career, many titles, two World Cups and I know that many more good things are coming."

Izaguirre - who made 269 appearances in total for Celtic and scored five goals - revealed last year that he could be a pastor when he retires from football. He explained: "Being a pastor is a complex term because it can be misinterpreted. I want to help young people and I want to be a disciple of God. I want to lead by example and help them as others helped me and be successful in following God.

"I try to be disciplined and I learned that when I was in Europe with Celtic. My teammates there would hold parties every month and would drink. They told me it was a sin not to drink.

"But I maintained my discipline and gained respect