Jozo Simunovic has explained that he hopes that missing out against Borussia Monchengladbach can allow him to play against Barcelona and Aberdeen at the end of this month.
The Croatian defender underwent surgery earlier this year after it was discovered that he had a cracked bone in his knee.
Simunovic has been nursed back to full fitness and delivered commanding displays in the recent wins over Sevco and Aberdeen.
In-between those two games he missed out on the midweek win at Ross County with the defender not wanting to compromise his recuperation.
Celtic face an exhausting fixture list in December which features eight matches in 28 days but before then Simunovic is hopeful that he’ll have shown that he is up for two games a week.
“My fitness is still in a process of building,” the defender explained. “It’s a very long recovery, I missed half a season and all the pre-season matches and training sessions.
“I would like to play more but we have to be smart sometimes. That’s the right way to be. We speak with each other and we decide when I play. We decided on Aberdeen, then we’d see for Gladbach.
“Then we decided it would be better to stay calm. It was an important game, but for me the most important period is coming after the break.
“The plan is to play in the Champions League. There’s Barcelona then we have the League Cup Final.
“What are the implications of overdoing it? It would just be too much because it was serious surgery. I am close to the end of that process and then I will play every week.”