Celtic will be without Charlie Mulgrew for their Europa League opener against Ajax on Thursday.

The defender suffered a thigh injury against Aberdeen at Pittodrie on Saturday and has not made the journey to Amsterdam.

Hoops assistant manager John Collins explained that Mulgrew was the only member of the Celtic squad to remain in Scotland.

Speaking at Glasgow Airport before Celtic flew to the Netherlands, Collins said: "Charlie is the only one not here.

"He has a thigh muscle injury, so we're still waiting on confirmation of the scan result but it looks like it will be a few weeks.

"It is a blow, he's an experienced player. He's played in a lot of big games so we just hope he has a speedy recovery."

And Collins hinted that new signing Jozo Simunovic could replace Mulgrew to make his Celtic debut.

He added: "The team has not been picked but Jozo trained very well and there's every chance he could get his debut."

The Croatia Under-21 international moved to Parkhead for a fee reported to be around £5.5m.

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This will be the first time that these two sides have faced one another in this competition, with the previous eight meetings being played in the European Cup/Champions League (proper and qualifiers).

Celtic haven't won a single one of their 10 away matches in the Europa League (excl. qualifiers) - losing four and drawing six.

At the Amsterdam Arena, Ajax have won three of their last four Europa League matches (L1).

Celtic have conceded the first goal in their last four Europa League matches.

Ajax have won three of their last five matches against British opponents (D1 L1).