Celtic face injury crisis ahead of Champions League showdown with Man Utd

Oct 19 2008 By Euan Mclean

CELTIC face a Champions League injury crisis with SIX stars struggling to make Tuesday's showdown against Manchester United at Old Trafford.

Top scorer Georgios Samaras heads a list of crocked strikers and will undergo an operation today on the knee injury suffered playing for Greece in midweek.

He joins Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink (groin) on the sidelines while reserve target man Chris Killen is still recovering from knee surgery.

Influential defender Gary Caldwell also faces a sweat tomake the Old Trafford clash after needing stitches for a deep gash in his foot during yesterday's 2-1 SPL win at Inverness.

Right-back Andreas Hinkel missed out again in the Highlands with a thigh injury while midfielder Marc Crosas limped out of the game late on with a hamstring problem.

Boss Gordon Strachan said: "These are not laughter lines on my face - it's hugely disappointing.

"It's not just Georgios and Jan because we've lost Chris Killen as well. So we are without physical strikers who give you lots of options.

"You want the physique in your side plus the speed and ability. Our speed and ability are OK but the physical side is a problem."

Strachan only has pint-sized strikers Scott McDonald and Shaun Maloney available to go up against hulking United stars Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic.

McDonald is struggling to shrug off the effects of jetlag after returning on Friday from international duty with Australia and was subbed after an hour yesterday.

But Strachan ruled out handing a chance to his rookie replacement Cillian Sheridan because it would be "unfair" to the Irish kid.

He added: "While Scott worked hard you could see it was a problem for him.

"We were thrown with the injury to Georgios. It forced us to change our style of play and try something that didn't really work.

"Georgios didn't think there was a problem at first but there is.Howlong he's out depends on the size of the tear the surgeons find.

"Gary has stitches in his foot. He tried to play on but couldn't do it. If you ask Gary what his chances are for Tuesday he would say 100 per cent but he said that at halftime too."

If Caldwell doesn't make it his place will go to goal hero Glenn Loovens, who bagged the crucial second yesterday.

The Dutchman had to fill in at right-back and he said: "Centre-back is my position but you want to be in the team and if that means playing right-back I will do it.

"I was pleased to score and it was a massive win."