Aiden McGeady, Georgios Samaras, Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink, Shaun Maloney, Artur Boruc and Shunsuke Nakamura are some of the big names in the treatment room and McLeod says some of them will need to play in Denmark to give the Celts a hope of staying involved in European competition. Champions League progression is not impossible but Murdo thinks that the UEFA Cup spot will be a more likely target.
He said: "Up front Chris Killen, Samaras and Vennegoor of Hesselink are all out and that is a horrendous injury list for any team to cope with. It hasn't caught up with Celtic yet and games coming up against Hamilton Accies, St Mirren and Kilmarnock are ones they should get by in."
"Aalborg is going to be the big test and hopefully they will get some key players back for it." continued McLeod "If they get that elusive first away victory and Man Utd beat Villarreal we could be in for one of the biggest and best night's in the club's history. Celtic would have a chance to beat the Spaniards at home in the final game to qualify. The problem is Saturday's team wouldn't, in my opinion, be good enough to win in Denmark. Even teams with Larsson, Sutton and Hartson were not good enough to win away from home."
The ex-Celtic and Dortmund star thought the Celtic squad would be strong enough to cope with most things this season "I thought at the start of the season there was a player for every position plus a number of guys who enabled the manager to chop and change." he said "Suddenly because of the injury list I worry about the European game coming up in a few weeks. Celtic have a tremendous European record and it would be a huge blow to get knocked out of everything."
"I think they need at least one of the strikers back, preferably Samaras because he is a good player who can hold the ball up," he continued "the goalkeeper would be a bonus and there's McGeady - playmakers and the technically gifted are needed for such games."
And talking of playmakers and the technically gifted Shunsuke Nakamura is pushing himself to get fit for tomorrows game against Killie especially with Japan's upcoming game against Qatar on the horizon. He said yesterday "I am not sure about the Kilmarnock game although I really want to play. The injury is feeling better all the time and that is good because I want to play against Qatar." his return tomorrow night would be a boost for Celtic but there is the worry that he could again be the target of some overzealous tackling from Kilmarnock's boot-boys.
"Gordon has been quite fair to him, leaving him out of the side when he is injured and I'm sure he'd be angry if Naka was strapped up and sent out for Japan if he wasn't 100 per cent fit." said ex-Celt Murdo " In Scotland, any player who goes to the national squad with an injury is sent home. You don't get strapped up or asked to take painkillers."