Celtic centre-back Stephen Welsh could be fit to face Bayer Leverkusen despite being forced off injured at the weekend, according to The Daily Record's Michael Gannon

The lowdown

Celtic are due to travel to Germany to face Group G leaders Leverkusen on Thursday night. If they lose, and Real Betis beat point-less Ferencvaros in the other game, they'll be out of the Europa League.

Welsh would automatically have been considered a doubt for the vital clash after taking an elbow in the head from St Johnstone's Shaun Rooney in Saturday's Scottish League Cup semifinal.

He had to be substituted off 12 minutes from time.

Injury expert Ben Dinnery told Football Insider that a 'severe' facial injury could require 'surgical intervention', sidelining Welsh for 'months'.

The latest

Happily for Celtic, the 'excellent' Welsh seems to have escaped a serious injury. It's 'understood' that he didn't suffer from concussion in the wake of the clash.

And he could be in contention to face Leverkusen, who currently sit 4th in the Bundesliga.

The verdict

Intriguingly, Carl Starfelt is apparently 'in the running to be involved' at the BayArena, having returned to training.

So does Postecoglou go with Welsh after his Saturday scare or throw Starfelt back in for what looks a daunting test?

If there's no risk of Welsh exacerbating the problem, then you'd arguably lean towards him, purely for that added sharpness. He's played the last three games, and you wouldn't want Starfelt to be caught cold in a game of this magnitude.

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