Celtic forward Luis Palma’s struggles under Brendan Rodgers didn’t stop him from making it to the Honduras squad for the international break, after missing last month’s fixtures.
Palma has clocked in less than 100 minutes of action from four league games and has been limited to three appearances for Celtic since the end of September.
Honduras manager Reinaldo Rueda left the 23-year-old out of the starting lineup in their 2-0 win over Mexico in San Pedro Sula and Palma came off the bench to score a brace.
On Tuesday, the two countries faced each other again in Toluca and Honduras lost the tie 4-0.
The Celtic player started the tie, but was replaced after the break, and Rueda was asked about his decision to take him off. The manager’s comments are relayed by Futbol Red, and he created a controversy with his remarks about Palma.
“Assume responsibility, there is no other choice. Luis Palma is now a bigger figure than me, in Honduras he is bigger than me at the moment, he is the pretty boy of Honduras and taking him out is one of those unpopular decisions that have to be taken,” he said.
The outlet claims the Honduras international ‘avoided controversy’ when responding to the “pretty boy” remarks made by Reuda.
“Nobody wants to leave in these games, but I’m calm and happy with the group because we gave everything. They are technical decisions, I respect the coach a lot,” Palma explained.
“Unfortunately, we couldn’t achieve the objective, it’s a hard and difficult moment for us, but we have to lift our heads and in the next matches we have to wash our faces.”
Palma will return to his club and hope to feature for Brendan Rodgers’ side against Heart of Midlothian on Sunday.
