Neil Lennon has paid a glowing tribute to Scott Brown but stopped short of confirming his captain will start Sunday’s Scottish Cup Final against Hearts.
The 35-year-old has been instrumental in Celtic’s run of winning 11 consecutive domestic trophies but was left unused on the bench for the wins over Lille and Kilmarnock.
Ismaila Soro and David Turnbull have come in and brought a new dynamic to the Celtic side with back-to-back wins to end a bleak run of just two wins in the 12 previous matches.
After the win over Kilmarnock Lennon made reference to including the hardcore in his side for Hampden prompting a guessing game over his starting XI.
Going further today as he discussed his captain the hoops boss told The Sun:
At the end of the day, he is an icon at the club – a modern-day great. And he may have a chance of starting on Sunday! I have been there when you start to come to the end of your career. It’s tough. You want to hang in there and he still has plenty to offer on and off the field, there is no question of that.
Lennon’s final match as a Celtic player was the 2007 Scottish Cup Final against Dunfermline where he was substituted by Gary Caldwell with the match goal-less.
Brown will have plenty of matches to be involved in beyond Sunday but his inclusion, or not will be the first thing that Celtic fans look for when the team news is released at 1pm on Sunday.