RONNY DEILA still hopes Mikael Lustig will play a part in Celtic's push for the treble despite the player revealing he fears his season is over, writes Graeme Macpherson and Mark Woods.
The Swedish international has not played since February after sustaining an ankle injury and does not expect to feature in the remaining months of the campaign.
"I have to put this season to one side," said the defender. "I have been out for six weeks now and the foot is still swollen. I have a stretched ligament on the inside of my foot and bruised the bone on the outside. It may take three months before I'm good again.
"But I have to look on the positive side because I don't require an operation. We will see how long it takes, but it looks like the season is over."
His manager, though, believes Lustig could yet feature in the run-in. "Hopefully he will be back for us after the international break," said Deila. "That is the goal. But it is the same injury as Jason Denayer had and it can either be one week or two months. It's so hard to say."
Forgotten Celtic race row winger Aleksandar Tonev has been named in Bulgaria's squad despite not kicking a ball for the Hoops for over three months.
The on-loan Aston Villa star has been bombed out of Ronny Deila's side entirely since December.
He hasn't been seen at all since the SFA found him guilty of racially abusing Aberdeen defender Shay Logan during a game last September. Tonev was banned for seven games, despite insisting he was innocent and lost his appeal.
However, his lack of game time has not stopped Bulgaria manager Ivaylo Petev from including him in the 23-man squad for their vital Euro 2016 qualifier against Italy.
And the 25-year-old is set to see competitive action for the first time in months when the two nations meet in Sofia.
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