Day by day it seems that the task of getting past Astana has become more difficult for Brendan Rodgers.
As his attempted, and failed, to bring in fresh faces the new hoops manager wouldn’t have been considering that what remains of his central defence would go down injured.
If there was one player that Rodgers wanted to call on tomorrow it was Erik Sviachenko- unfortunately a groin injury will leave the Dane to watch from afar as Celtic’s Champions League hopes go on the line. A hand injury to Kristoffer Ajer slammed another defensive door closed.
With four experienced defenders on the sidelines Rodgers has little to think over with his defensive options decidedly slim.
While the hoops boss might have been thinking towards playing a 3-5-2 formation injuries look like forcing him to go with a 4-4-2 with the experienced Mikel Lustig essential to his plans.
Despite the injury fears and Astana’s fine record in recent qualifiers there is plenty of grounds to be optimistic ahead of tomorrow’s match.
Rodgers knows that reaching the Champions League group stage is essential for his own and Celtic’s reputation- going with the team revealed in this gallery will go a long way to delivering the European nights that supporters crave.