Celtic not appealing Balde’s dismissal

MARTIN O’NEILL has confirmed he will not be appealing against Bobo Balde’s red card against Hibernian on Saturday which rules him out of this Sunday’s clash with Rangers.

The central defender was sent off by referee Alan Freeland for lashing out at Scott Brown during Celtic's 2-1 victory for the Hoops at Easter Road.

O'Neill refused to rule out appealing until he had studied television pictures of the incident, but having now done so he has accepted that the player was in the wrong.

The Celtic manager also revealed he would be taking his own disciplinary action against the player.

"I have seen the incident again and we won't be appealing," said O'Neill. "He will be reprimanded without a doubt."

But despite his weekend discrepancy, Balde looks set to face Lyon in tonight's crucial Champions League Group A clash at Parkhead.

That is good news for O'Neill after admitting that he had more injury concerns following his side's victory at Easter Road although he was not disclosing the identities of the players.

He is already without Paul Lambert, Ulrik Laursen, Stephen Crainey and Steve Guppy while the game has come too quick for Joos Valgaeren and Johan Mjallby, who returned to full training with the first team yesterday morning after long-term injury lay-offs.

O'Neill is now beginning to regret not making any big signings during the summer which would have eased his selection problems.

But he admits that the opportunity to play in the world's top club competition has given the players who went to the UEFA Cup final last season an extra incentive.

"I would have preferred to have strengthened the side and freshen things up, which helps enormously," O'Neill said with a sigh.

He already has other distractions ahead of the game with more speculation linking him with a move to Tottenham.

It is not a surprise that O'Neill instead wanted to focus his attentions on the arrival of the French champions.

Victory appears vital to the Scottish giants' hopes of progressing to the next round of the competition after their heartbreaking defeat to Bayern Munich in the Olympic Stadium a fortnight ago coupled with Lyon's victory over Anderlecht on the same night.

He admitted: "It is (a must-win game) because there's only six games in the group.

"Because we lost the first game to Bayern Munich, and especially as we know that Lyon themselves won their opening game, I agree that it's very, very important.

"Although it's not the death knell if we don't take all three points, it's very important to win the game."

Lyon fired a message to Celtic with a 4-0 French Ligue victory over Lens at the weekend - but O'Neill is promising a daunting and all-out welcome of his own.