Boyata ruled out but Ajer expected to be fit for Zenit tie

As confirmed by The Evening Times, Dedryck Boyata is set to miss both legs of the tie against Zenit St.Petersburg in the Europa Legaue due to a groin injury, but fellow defender Kristoffer Ajer should be fit to face the Russian side.

Both men were forced off in Celtic’s last game, an away defeat to Kilmarnock, and Boyata is now set to miss a couple of weeks of action after some fine recent form.

Twitter: BR on injuries: “Ajer had a nasty knock to his achilles but should be ok for the weekend. Boyata will struggle.… https://t.co/3UKwVi86In (@CelticFC)

The good news for the Celtic fans is that their young stopper Ajer appears to have shaken off an Achilles knock and is likely to feature as soon as the weekend when Celtic face Patrick Thistle in the Scottish Cup.

Speaking to the media, Brendan Rodgers provided an update on his squad ahead of the Patrick game on Saturday and the visit of the Russians to Parkhead next week.

One or two of the guys have started to return to training, the likes of Tom Rogic and Patrick Roberts, but they are still a wee bit of time off the games. We will put a strong team out. I am always confident that whatever team we put out will look to get the result. I don’t think there is any rotation that I need to think about, it is just about picking the team to win the game. I think it has just been one of those seasons for us, we have had a number of injuries this year so it is a lot of bad luck really.

Another boost ahead of these games is that defender Jozo Simunovic is fit despite being absent from the match day squad against Kilmarnock.