Kieran Tierney is expected to return to first team action next Sunday against Motherwell.
The defender has been out injured for over two months but has had 10 days full training without any reaction to his hip injury.
Emilio Izaguirre and Jonny Hayes have stood in at left-back but the return of the fans favourite will give Celtic a massive boost at a vital stage of the season.
After today’s 1-0 win at Kilmarnock Chick Young asked Brendan Rodgers if Tierney would face Valencia on Thursday. While that answer was negative there was definite news of a comeback date. The Celtic boss revealed:
I think that Motherwell is the game that we are targeting Kieran for
Despite their 100% domestic record since the new year the return of Tierney will be a big boost for Celtic with Jeremy Toljan slotting in easily to the other full back position.
There was a clamour to include him for the first leg of the Valencia tie but Rodgers resisted that to give the defender an extra week on the training ground.
Tom Rogic and Filip Benkovic are scheduled to return in mid-March as Rodgers gets his strongest side back together again for the vital run-in to the season.
