Published: May 23, 11:04 a.m. ET
Updated: May 26, 12:40 p.m.

Nothing keeps Alistair Johnston down for long.

A little over three weeks after he left a Celtic game on crutches, the Canadian men’s national team right-back is back in training.

Johnston suffered an ankle injury in the Scottish Cup semi-final win over Celtic’s Glasgow arch-rivals Rangers following a collision. A few days after he suffered that injury, it was estimated that the 24-year-old would be out of action for three to four weeks.

And he’s bang on schedule. Johnston was spotted training with his teammates on Tuesday. Thankfully, it seems his over-zealous crutch-laden celebrations at the end of that semi-final haven’t come back to haunt him.

His timely recovery is not only a big boost for John Herdman’s Canada ahead of a busy summer of CONCACAF Nations League and Gold Cup action, but also for Celtic, who play Inverness Caledonian Thistle in the Scottish Cup final on June 3.

Postecoglou told reporters on Tuesday, May 23: “He trained today, his first session. He won’t play tomorrow [against Hibernian]. But all things being equal if he gets through the rest of the week training, he should be ready for the weekend.”

Celtic face Aberdeen at home on Saturday in their last league game of the season. They have already won the Scottish Premiership title, giving Postecoglou more freedom to rotate and Johnston more opportunity to work on his fitness with some valuable minutes in what less of a competitive game and more of a trophy ceremony.

Postecoglou added on Friday, May 26: “He’s good to go, he’ll play tomorrow and hopefully he gets through that. In terms of the cup final, we’ll see.”

Johnston has been integral to Postecoglou’s side in the second half of the campaign after arriving from CF Montréal midway through the Scottish season. Before this injury, he had missed just one Scottish Premiership game since his arrival, when he was rested for a clash with Hearts on March 8 ahead of the Scottish Cup quarter-final against the same opponents three days later.

For Herdman and CanMNT, too, he has been integral. The Nations League win over Curaçao in March, for which he was suspended, was the only Canada match he has missed since June 2021. While the form of Richie Laryea for Toronto FC threatens his starting spot, he will still be expected to line up in Herdman’s defence next month.

By that point, he will likely have another trophy in his cabinet. Johnston has already won the Scottish League Cup and Scottish Premiership in 5 months in Glasgow and Celtic will be expected to complete the domestic treble in 11 days’ time, with the Canadian back on the field again.