Injured Celtic trio likely to recover to face Anderlecht

The Celtic manager, Martin O'Neill, has had good news on three of his injured players as he chases his first Champions' League away victory against Anderlecht this evening.

Alan Thompson, Chris Sutton and Stanislav Varga gave him some concern over the weekend, having either suffered injuries or aggravated existing problems. But the trio appear to have recovered from the knocks and were training in the Stade Constant Vanden Stock last night to try to prove that they are ready to take on Anderlecht tonight.

"Varga is feeling much better and will do a bit of training," said O'Neill. "Alan and Chris are also going to train."

O'Neill looked worried by the news that the game's Austrian referee, Fritz Stuchlik, was the man who awarded a controversial penalty against Scotland in their Euro 2004 qualifying game away to Lithuania. He penalised Celtic's Jackie McNamara because he "heard something", which left the Northern Irishman almost speechless.

"Because he heard something?" asked O'Neill. "That's a bit disconcerting if that's the case. He's the official tomorrow night and I'm sure he'll hear a few noises."

Celtic lie second in Group A, but despite talk of an injury crisis in the Anderlecht camp, O'Neill was refusing to write off the Belgian side.

"They are a very strong side and have been getting good results in the league," O'Neill said. "I don't know what sort of injuries they might have, but they are an experienced side and they showed a lot of confidence a couple of seasons ago against Manchester United. But this will be a difficult game and it is an important Champions League game so I hope both teams have a lot of respect for each other."

Anderlecht beat Sir Alex Ferguson's men here 2-1 three seasons ago and O'Neill clearly sees them as a big threat to his side's hopes of qualifying for the next stage despite beating Hearts, Lyon and Rangers in their last three matches.

"We have been playing well recently but it counts for nothing now," he said. "We are going into the game with confidence. I watched them against Bruges and they played well and I have been very impressed with them. I also watched them against Bayern Munich and it's going to be difficult for us.

"From what I have heard they were a wee bit unfortunate not to have beaten Bayern so we know how difficult this one's going to be."

The Anderlecht coach, Hugo Broos, is facing arguably the biggest decision of his managerial career despite the welcome news that Glen de Boeck and Hannu Tihinen have declared themselves fit to play. "The two players have seen the doctor and have trained so we are going to take them to the hotel tonight and see how they are tomorrow," said Broos.

De Boeck, the Anderlecht captain, said: "I can run OK and can play." But his manager was not so confident. He joked: "My grandfather can also run without pain."

That still leaves Broos with a poser of whether to gamble on the fitness of one or both centre-backs or throw the 17-year-old Vincent Kompany and 22-year-old Lamine Traore into action.

Tihinen said: "In my head I want to play, but I know that I haven't played for a long time so the decision is up to the manager now."

Kompany and Traore face the prospect of coming up against the dangerous Celtic spearhead of Henrik Larsson and John Hartson, but the Anderlecht manager is far from daunted at the prospect facing the talented pair.

"If my centre-backs are not there then [it is difficult because] they are two of my most experienced players of the team," Broos said.

"For a game as important as this you would want your two most experienced players in the team, but the two young players are talented."