Brendan Rodgers’s Celtic will face Astana in the Champions League qualifier at Celtic Park this week.
Scottish Premiership giants Celtic will take on Kazakhstan Premier League outfit Astana in the first leg of the Champions League playoff round at Celtic Park on Wednesday evening.
The Glasgow giants will head into the tie as favourites, but they have problems at the back due to injuries.
Centre-backs Dedryck Boyata and Erik Sviatchenko are injured at the moment, and manager Rodgers has deployed Nir Bitton as a central defender.
Bitton is a defensive midfielder by trade, but in recent games the 25-year-old has been deployed as a defender.
Former Celtic striker Sutton is not convinced, and has suggested that the former FC Ashdod midfielder should not be played in defence against Astana.
Speaking after the Hoops’ 1-0 victory over Partick Thistle away from home at the Firhill Stadium in the Scottish Premiership last Friday evening, Sutton told BT Sport about Bitton: “Celtic looked the dominant team all night, but in a big Champions League game with so much at stake, take it from me, he isn’t the man.”
Celtic also have injury concerns in attack. Moussa Dembele is on the sidelines at the moment with a hamstring injury, while fellow striker Leigh Griffiths is struggling with calf problems.
Sutton believes that that the Scotland international striker will be key for Celtic against Astana over two legs.
“I’ve said often enough Griffiths is top class and it looks as though he is improving again with his touch and game awareness,” Sutton wrote in The Daily Record before last Friday’s game against Partick. “He’ll be crucial in the ties.”
Sutton also gave his reaction to Celtic’s win against Partick on social networking site Twitter and picked his Team of the Week in the Scottish Premiership.
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