NIR BITTON is a major injury doubt for Celtic ahead of Sunday's League Cup final against Dundee United.

The Israeli limped off late in the teams' William Hill Scottish Cup tie at Tannadice last weekend with an ankle knock and is yet to resume full training. He still hopes to feature in what would be his first ever senior cup final but revealed he would not risk it if he were "not at 100%".

With Adam Matthews, Mikael Lustig and Charlie Mulgrew all also struggling with injuries, and Virgil van Dijk set to discover whether he will be cleared to play at a Scottish Football Association disciplinary tribunal this afternoon, the loss of Bitton as well would be a blow to manager Ronny Deila who is already without the ineligible duo Stuart Armstrong and Gary Mackay-Steven.

Bitton, after a slow start to his Celtic career, has become one of the most influential figures in Deila's side, even filling in at central defence following van Dijk's red card last weekend at Tannadice. With Celtic facing up to a congested fixture list - they face United in the Scottish Cup replay on Wednesday, then again in the league the following weekend - the midfielder won't rush back into action before he is ready.

"I have to be honest with my teammates," he said. "If somebody cannot give 100% for the team there is no reason he should play. At the end of the day I will take the final decision. If I feel I can play and help the team I will play. If I feel I can play but not at 100% I will take the decision to protect it for the next games. But we have four more days before the game and that's a long time. I hope I will be fine."

Bitton was trying to remain philosophical despite the prospect of missing out on a significant career milestone.

"It's the first cup final of my career," he added. "And in the minute it happened I didn't think about anything, just 'why?' But sometimes these things just make you stronger and a better player.

"Everything in life happens for a good reason. I just thought, 'okay, I need to work harder.' Sometimes you get injured, it's part of the game. You need to be ready for that and I have to make sure it doesn't happen again next time."

Meanwhile, Anthony Stokes expressed his disbelief that Aidan Connolly was not cited by the SFA's compliance officer for winning a penalty unfairly in Sunday's 1-1 draw. The United forward tumbled to the ground with Stokes the nearest Celtic player to him. But the Irishman was adamant it was a dive.

"I know for a fact I've not touched him," said Stokes. "He's seen me, I was actually going to make a tackle and from one of the camera angles you can see I've gone to put my foot in but I've pulled it away. He's already on the way down so it's a strange one for me because there was no contact.

"It's gone to whoever's reviewing the situation and how they can come away and say that he's not dived is beyond me because I know that I haven't made contact with him."