Five days after Martin O'Neill said he feared that Joos Valgaeren's season was over due to the ankle injury sustained at Tynecastle last Sunday, early visitors to Parkhead yesterday were rewarded by the sight of the Belgian pounding out circuits of the pitch without a hint of a limp.

Valgaeren was then put through a brief workout under the supervision of Celtic physio Brian Scott and at lunchtime Valgaeren bounced up the Parkhead stairs with a quiet smile on his face. His hopes of playing in tomorrow's crucial match have soared in the past 48 hours.

O'Neill's surprise at this development was mixed with some understandable pleasure. "Joos is doing really well. He's making good progress, really good, better than any of us could have anticipated."

Jackie McNamara (hamstring) is O'Neill's only other injury concern.

Across the city at Ibrox, Dick Advocaat had rather less encouraging news about his injury situation. With the Rangers squad decimated, there has been much speculation that Advocaat would risk recalling Giovanni van Bronckhorst, but that has been ruled out.

With Lorenzo Amoruso, Ronald de Boer, Claudio Reyna and Michael Mols among the others unavailable - Mols had an appeal against suspension rejected last night - Advocaat said his selection was down to "13 senior players and three young ones. That's it."