Ciftci kicks Izaguirre in training ground bust-up

The last full day of training at Lennoxtown for Celtic before the trip to Tynecastle turned out to be a fiasco.

Emilio Izaguirre left the training ground with a bloody face and required stitches after an altercation with Nadir Ciftci.

The incident came about after the Honduran tackled Ciftci during training and the striker lashed out at Izaguirre hitting him in the ear.

Izaguirre left the training complex to go to hospital to receive treatment for the cut and had several stitches

Flashpoints are common is the 23-year-old’s career, including a six-game domestic ban following a biting incident whilst playing for Dundee United. This time, it wasn’t a bite, but it still showed a lack of self-control on the Turks part.

Pictures of the incident clearly showed the mark left by Ciftci was a nasty one, but Ronny Deila won’t be disciplining him.

As quoted by the Daily Mail, Deila said:

What I am told happened was a tackle from Emilio and then Nadir reacted to that tackle. He thought it was very hard and he tried to get away from it.

Then he kicked back and he hits Emilio’s face and he didn’t know that or see that, and he caught his ear. He had to go to the hospital to get a couple of stitches to put it together.

It was a tackle, which was a little bit too much, then there was a reaction, but he [Ciftci] didn’t actually mean to kick him there. It was a bit unlucky but I talked with both players and they have moved on from it.

Deila also confirmed both players are still available for the trip to Tynecastle.

The incident came on the eve of Celtic’s trip to face Hearts in the Scottish League Cup quarter-final and will no doubt be a talking point should the Hoops fail to progress to the semi-final.