KRISTOFFER Ajer has paid a glowing tribute to the Celtic physios for helping him to return from injury ahead of schedule and take part in the Betfred Cup semi-final against Hearts on Sunday.

Ajer made his comeback from the hamstring strain he suffered in the quarter-final against St Johnstone at McDiarmid Park last month at Murrayfield at the weekend.

The Norwegian centre half helped the defending champions keep a clean sheet and book a place against Aberdeen in the final at Hampden in December with a convincing 3-0 victory.

The 20-year-old is looking forward to getting more game time for Brendan Rodgers’s side and stressed he is available for the Ladbrokes Premiership match against Dundee at Dens Park tomorrow.

“It was a great feeling to finally play again,” he said. “I’m fully fit. I’ve been working for four weeks with the physios, working extremely hard. They were long days at Lennoxtown, but it really paid off, being able to come back so early.

“It was always part of the plan to play in the semi-final. I had a training session on Thursday, while the rest of the guys were playing in Germany. Then I trained with the team as normal on Friday. It’s been really well planned by the physios and the work they’ve put in has been phenomenal.

“To be honest, there wasn’t any risk taken. The physios have been building this up over the last couple of weeks. Obviously, the cramp came on quite early in the second half. But it helped getting the result.”

Ajer added: “It was good to finally get out of the treatment room – it is getting quite crowded!

“The physios at this club do a fantastic job and I have to thank them a lot. Because it was a proper hamstring strain I had. So to get me back in four weeks is a great job by them. Training every morning and leaving late every day, that’s the only way to get fit.”

Ajer’s return is timely for Rodgers as Scott Brown, Cristian Gamboa, Eboue Kouassi, Leigh Griffiths and Olivier Ntcham, who both went off during the Hearts game, as well Jozo Simunovic are all out injured for Celtic at the moment.

However, the player, who formed a good central defensive partnership alongside Filip Benkovic in Edinburgh on Sunday, believes the win over the Premiership leaders showed that the Scottish champions have the strength in depth they need to cope with those absences.

“Yes, we have a lot of players missing but, you see how many good players we have, guys who can take their chance,” he said. “Look at Ryan Christie coming on and doing fantastically against Hearts. I am so happy for him, he is a great talent.

‘That’s one of our big strengths in the squad. We train hard, so hard, every single day. The manager and the staff put on great sessions to make sure everyone is fit and ready to come on. I had no doubts that Ryan would come on and do a great job. I think it’s a really, really good squad.

“I’m just happy to be back; when you are out injured, all you want is to come back training and playing. I could play on Wednesday. I just had cramps in the calf. I’ll recover quickly and be ready for Wednesday.”

Meanwhile, Ajer has praised Benkovic, the Croatian who is on loan from Leicester City this season, for how he performed on Sunday in the wake of the King Power Stadium helicopter accident the night before.

“It was a tragedy what happened,” he said. “And everyone sends their thoughts to the families and people involved. But Filip turned up 100 per cent ready to play. He showed his class.

“I think, when the news came up on Saturday night, everyone was really, really shocked. It’s a terribly sad thing to happen. All our thoughts were with them.”