Aberdeen captain Ryan Jack is ready to play through the pain for his side at Celtic today despite being told he faces surgery on his injured knee next week.
The Aberdeen captain will have an operation on Tuesday which manager Derek McInnes hopes will keep him out for weeks rather than months but, with Jonny Hayes and Peter Pawlett both injured, the captain could make a final appearance against the champions today at Parkhead.
McInnes said: “We think Ryan Jack needs a cartilage operation. We anticipated that before the scan because we thought he had a loose piece of cartilage. A piece had broken off.
“The knee was swelling up intermittently. The surgeon will decide how much work needs to be done and he will see him on Tuesday.”
When asked if Jack could play today McInnes said: “At the minute he is ruled out. We have Peter Pawlett and Jonny Hayes both ruled out. Ryan has not been able to train. He still had a bit of fluid on the knee on Thursday. It’s a case of doing what’s right for him.
“With losing Peter and Jonny from the middle of the park it’s a blow because we have been strong everywhere else – defensively and in attack. Hopefully, it’s weeks because Ryan’s started the season brilliantly for us.”
Today’s game will be the first meeting of the sides since Brendan Rodgers was appointed manager at the Hoops.
McInnes knows the former Liverpool manager will present a different challenger from his predecessor Ronny Deila but insists his side is ready for their Parkhead test.
He said: “The basic principles are the same. A back three, a four, a diamond, a front two, he is adaptable and he looks at the opposition to give them every chance, rather than rolling out the same formation all the time. He’s not afraid to try something.
“It’s always difficult when you’re up against a squad of players who are as potent as they can be. You’ve seen them dismantle teams domestically over a period of time.
“They’ll have 20 minutes of football that just blows the opposition away, St Johnstone being a case in point last week. Motherwell at home, too – it’s clear that when they get on top of you they can be difficult to stop.
“But we’ve got to go there confident in our own abilities to restrict that space, get up against their better players and defend well at all times. Then obviously try to be good enough to go and ask questions of them.
“We’re not going there to just roll over.”
