Brendan Rodgers confirms Kieran Tierney won't face Valencia

Celtic will be without Kieran Tierney on Thursday night.

Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers has been quoted by the club's official Twitter account as saying that left back Kieran Tierney won't face Valencia.

The Bhoys have been in blistering form domestically since returning from the winter break, but now the attention turns back to European action.

After squeezing through their Europa League group, Celtic have been drawn against Valencia in the knockout stages of the competition.

Celtic will be underdogs against the Spaniards, who dropped out of the Champions League group stage, but finished third so guaranteed themselves a Europa League place.

Celtic will need to be at their best to get a positive result, but there are some lingering injury concerns in Rodgers' squad – most notably with Kieran Tierney.

The left back has been suffering with a hip problem for two months now, but The Scottish Sun raised hopes that he would return on Thursday by reporting that Tierney has been begging Rodgers to let him play.

Tierney was pictured in training today, but Rodgers has confirmed that Tierney won't be available, presenting a major blow to Celtic's back line.

Rodgers also noted that Emilio Izaguirre - Tierney's likely replacement - and Jozo Simunovic are both fit and ready to play on Thursday, at least bringing some good news to the defensive options.