Neil Lennon won’t risk Odsonne Edouard against Milan – but the hitman could made his comeback from Covid in Sunday’s crucial Premiership showdown with Aberdeen.
But the Celtic boss revealed Christopher Jullien is facing weeks out as the defender looks to get to the bottom of his back injury.
Lennon is still counting the cost of the damaging international break after Edouard, Nir Bitton and Hatem Elhamed were all stuck down with the virus.
The two Israeli stars admitted they were completely floored by the disease while Edouard is slowing finding his feet again.
The French ace won’t be fit to face Milan this evening but might get the chance to lead the line at Pittodrie.
Lennon said: “He’s doing various fitness tests, particularly on his heart rate levels, before we can even consider him returning to training.
“At the minute he’s working up until he reaches about 70-80 percent of his maximum heart rate.
“We’ll look to build on that over the next couple of days.
“He won’t be available for the Milan game but there is a possibility he may be okay for the Aberdeen game at the weekend.”
Lennon insisted he won’t take any chances with his coronavirus crew as it’s not just a case of doing the time in isolation and getting back to work for every athlete hit by the killer bug.
He said: “I’m not going to rush anyone back. This is a disease and we don’t know what the after-effects can be from one individual to the next.
“Yes, players are fit and healthy young men but it can affect in many different ways.
“We are taking the utmost care and giving the utmost attention to each and every one of them.
“I spoke to Nir when he was isolating and he was pretty floored and had lost his sense of taste and smell.
“He was in today, and had a bit of testing and a walk around the grounds just to get some fresh air, but again we will have to assess him as we go along.
“They are human beings at the end of the day. They are open to illness.
“This virus has damaged the world, not just in football or in Scotland. It really comes close to home when you have a couple of players that you care for and are suffering like that.
“It was great to see him back. Hopefully we will get him back into the routine of things but again I’m not going to gamble with anything. We are just going to make sure everything’s right before we do.”
Lennon admitted his frustration at losing Jullien for the foreseeable future.
He said: “He’s not responding well, he still has a lot of pain, a lot of discomfort in his back.
“Unfortunately, and I don’t know if I can put a timescale on it, but he’s going to be out for the next few weeks.
“He’s had scans, he’s seen specialists, he’s seen chiropractors, he’s getting round the clock treatment now and hopefully we will see an improvement in his condition as we go along.”
