'Resilient Tierney has another fight on his hands'

Europa League: Celtic v Sporting Braga

Venue: Celtic Park, Glasgow Date: Thursday, 2 October Kick-off: 17:45 BST

Coverage: Listen on BBC Radio Scotland Extra & Sounds, live text commentary on the BBC Sport website & app

All things being equal, Kieran Tierney will play his 400th senior game on Thursday, when Braga come to Celtic Park in round two of the Europa League.

That'll be 180 games for Celtic, 144 for Arsenal, 26 for Real Sociedad and bang on 50 for Scotland.

It's a lot of appearances, but then he got a lot of them in early. He had nearly 40 games under his belt at 18, almost 80 at 19 and close to 140 at 20.

So much football at such a young age. When it comes to Tierney, there are other numbers that, perhaps, explain the toll on his body in his formative football years - the relentless grind of his early time at Celtic as the poster boy for their academy.

More than 800 days lost through injury since his debut as a 17-year-old, the Celtic ball boy made good. The club's youngest-ever captain. Eighteen injuries and almost 150 games lost. One 90-minute performance this season and only two since June 2024.

The last time Tierney managed to play 90 minutes back-to-back? Three-and-a-half years ago in season 2020-21 when things were good in London, when he was one of the key men at Arsenal, a future captain, some said.

It was his 'boots in a Tesco bag' season', the time he became a cult figure among the fans, a refreshing contrast to the posers with their designer gear and flash cars. A player who was relatable. Somebody for their supporters to hang their hat on.

It's taken the full-back 11 painful years to get to this milestone, a place he would have reached long ago had it not been for all the physical blows - the broken leg, the dislocated shoulders, the ruptured ankle ligaments, the smashed knee, the hernia, the hip and the hamstring torn off the bone.

Tierney is still fighting to get back to what he was, if he ever can, which many doubt. He has looked a diminished force since his return to Glasgow, but again, these are early days in his bid to regain the pace and power that made him special.

He hasn't had much of the exuberance of before and little of the overlapping chaos that he contributes on his best days. In most of his performances, you would hardly know that he was there, which is saying something about a player who you always knew was there.

Many have doubted him before, of course. Doubt is nothing new in his world. It's hard to know how many times that Tierney has bounced back from adversity, but if you were to call this latest period in his career his third or fourth coming then you wouldn't be far away. If anything, it might be a touch conservative.

So he toils in his comeback and the mood music in places is that he may never be the player he used to be and that Celtic probably should never have re-signed him, despite the emotional tug.

It's too early to say. Tierney is still rebuilding while maybe packing some psychological baggage that is holding him back. Every injury he has had has given him a chance to show how mentally robust he can be and he's having to dig deep again.

He's used to it, sadly. Way back at the start, he was poised for a Celtic debut, late 2014, when he broke his leg. He said later that he didn't want to use it as an excuse for not making it with Celtic.

He was 17 at the time. Mature and driven. At 19, he tore ankle ligaments in a freak training ground accident and missed two months of the season. At 21, in season 2018-19, he had five different injuries, including a groin and a double hernia that left him in bits.

By then, he had established himself as one of Celtic's best-ever left-backs. In season 2017-18, he played 60 games, one of the most played players in Europe. A kid but already a colossus. He has spoken about the season after that and how he was in constant pain. Maybe that was the start of the problems that followed.

"I had a hernia and fluid around the area," he told the Open Goal podcast, external, an interview that was almost shocking to listen to. "I kept playing and playing," he said. "I couldn't get out of bed. I couldn't walk, but I was still trying to play.

"I was taking injections every game. Two of those were painkillers. I had osteitis pubis (chronic pain in the lower abdomen and groin) and it's a bad thing."

Jonny Hayes, a team-mate, told him that a friend of his had to retire with that injury. Tom Rogic, another team-mate, called him an idiot for playing on. "Tell them you can't play - this is bad," he said.

"I was taking steroid injections. Retirement was a rumour that was flying about. Did I start to think that? It did creep in, aye."

This was early 2019. Celtic's crown jewel was being placed in jeopardy, partly his own fault because of his desperate desire to play. He recounted a story about back-to-back games against Hearts on the title run-in. Neil Lennon had just taken over from Brendan Rodgers. The club was fixated on eight-in-a-row at the time.

"I wasn't supposed to play against Hearts as I was down for the Hibs game after that. (Neil) Lennon came in and said, 'I need you to play' and obviously I was going to," he explained. "We had two days of rest and then Hibs and I was cramping up on the walk before the game. I was done. It was horrible. It was the worst time of my life."

Tierney joined Arsenal that summer, his medical proving a bit of an endurance test. Eleven games into life at his new club, he dislocated his shoulder three times in half an hour against West Ham United.

"Nobody's shoulder should be going like that," he recalled. "You know the devastation straight away. You can see it on my face. Mentally, it was the toughest time of my life."

That line again. A second such experience at 22 years of age. He didn't play again until June.

He had two different knee injuries in 2021, but for the rest of the time, Tierney was a lauded character at Arsenal. Hailed as an example and a player of class and leadership.

There was talk of Real Madrid and Barcelona being interested. These were the best of times in England. As carefree as he could get.

In March 2022, his knee collapsed and he missed the rest of the rest of the season. Another comeback was required.

He went to Real Sociedad on loan to try to spark something. Five games in, he did his hamstring against Athletic Bilbao. He came back and played 10 confident games in a row and then did his hamstring again against Celta Vigo.

Tierney gathered himself once more and then suffered a horrible hamstring tear against Switzerland in the Euros that summer. "This too shall pass," he said at the time. He didn't kick a ball in anger for six months.

Last season, his final one with Arsenal, he was in and out of the team; contributing and respected but also on his way back to Celtic come the summer.

His last game was against Southampton and he scored. Nipped across his marker and tucked it away. Another example of a man getting off the canvas and going again; repeatedly knocked down but never knocked out.

He's only 28, but in football terms, he might feel a bit older than that. When is one injury one too many? What he's proven time and again is that he's resilient, he's a fighter and now he has another fight on his hands.

His 400th game is upon him. It could have been more, of course, but lamenting what might have been is not in Tierney's make-up. He's looking forward in hope - again.