Neil Lennon revealed that Celtic skipper Scott Brown could be out for 10 weeks following their 2-1 Champions league defeat by Benfica at the Stadium of Light.
The Hoops midfielder has been battling all season with a hip complaint, only playing intermittently and usually in the big games, but had to succumb to the pain in the second half when he was replaced by Kris Commons.
Parkhead boss Lennon said: "Scott Brown has run his course, we may have to book him in for surgery.
"We are looking at eight to 10 weeks.
"He has been pushing himself to the limit and we can't keep asking him to put himself through the amount of distress that obviously he was doing towards the end of his time on the pitch.
"He has been a huge player for us this season, I think it is time to get the problem addressed and hopefully he will have something to look forward to in the new year."
Lennon was alluding to the fact that Celtic's bid to win through to the knockout stages of the Champions League will go to their last Group G fixture.
Ola John gave the home side the lead in the seventh minute before Georgios Samaras levelled in the 32nd minute from a Charlie Mulgrew corner.
Defender Ezequiel Garay restored Benfica's lead in the 72nd minute to ultimately, and deservedly, leave both sides on seven points after five games.
The Scottish champions, guaranteed a Europa League spot after Barcelona beat Spartak 3-0 in Moscow earlier in the evening, will go through if, in their home game against the Russian club, they better the Portuguese side's result in Barcelona.
Lennon admits his last-16 hopes are in the balance.
He said "I think Benfica are capable of getting a win in Barcelona, for they are an excellent side.
"But we have to make them do that.
"I don't know what kind of mindset Spartak will be in, they might want to spoil our party, we have to be totally focused.
"What we have to do is win at home and make Benfica win in the Nou Camp which is no easy feat.
"The onus is on us to do that.
"The squad is stretched, we hope to have a few more players back for that game.
"No-one gave us a prayer coming in to this competition, these players have been exceptional, they have made a name for themselves and we are still in with a good chance of qualifying."
The former Celtic skipper had few complaints about the result.
He said: "I am disappointed. I thought there was a lack of composure to our play at times, a bit of nervousness which is understandable.
"Our passing was poor and we weren't decisive enough and it was a poor second goal to lose.
"We weren't at our best but you have to give credit to Benfica for the way they played."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article