Celtic are facing the nightmare scenario of losing Callum McGregor for more than two months.
The skipper is awaiting the results of scans amid fears he suffered a fractured cheekbone in Saturday’s bruising Scottish Cup win against Alloa.
McGregor was forced off with a nasty head knock and is likely to miss crunch clashes with Hearts, Dundee United and rivals Rangers in the short term.
But the damage could be bad enough to see the captain sidelined for up to eight weeks – which would include several key encounters in Scotland and in the Europa Conference League.
Ange Postecoglou revealed a gloomy prognosis in the aftermath of the Alloa clash as the midfielder joined a packed Lennoxtown treatment room and lengthy absentee list.
Hoops stiker Kyogo is already battling to get back fit before the end of the season after suffering serious hamstring damage while David Turnbull is also out for the long term.
Postecoglou’s squad will be further weakened for the next few weeks with Tom Rogic away on Australia duty and new recruit Daizen Maeda also receiving a summons from Japan.
McGregor is now set to join the group of sidelined Celts at a vital stage of the season.
Postecoglou admitted at the weekend it looked grim for his on-field general.
He said: “It's a facial injury, I don't know what it is but he's not a great shape. It's not going to be short-term, it looked quite significant.
"It's been that sort of season. We have just had challenge after challenge and what we've done so far is just get on with it.”
