Scott Brown in line to face Caley Thistle

Scott Brown could be in the Celtic team to face Inverness Caley Thistle today.

On Tuesday night after losing to Benfica Neil Lennon admitted that his captain may have to have surgery on his hip condition and face a lengthy spell on the sidelines.

Brown has seen a specialist since returning from Lisbon and looks likely to delay surgery until after the clash with Spartak Moscow on December 5.

“Scott, remarkably, is in contention to play,” Lennon explained yesterday looking forward to the visit of Caley Thistle.

“The problem with him on Tuesday wasn’t his stomach or hip, it was just the fact that his body was cramping due to lack of training.

“So he might need to play some game time between now and Moscow. He was out doing some runs on Friday morning, he didn’t join in the football, he just did some cardiovascular work.

“What I want from Scott — and I don’t know if I’m going to get this — is almost 100 per cent. We’re going to try and gauge that over the next week.

“We’ll try and balance it so he goes into the Moscow game pain-free and as good as he was feeling before Benfica and Moscow and Barcelona.”

Lennon added: “Long term, his condition’s not getting any worse. But it’s not getting any better because we haven’t been able to rest him for a concerted period of time.

“So it may be down to surgery and if that’s the case it’ll be eight to ten weeks. Scott has been well briefed by the medical team. If there was any danger of him doing any long-term damage we would have had him under the knife by now. So he’s very comfortable with that.

“It’s just the discomfort he gets days after games that’s the biggest problem. He can’t get up out of bed some mornings. He can’t drive. He’ll probably just make it down the stairs and lie on the couch for three or four hours before he can actually get up and start walking about.”

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