Celtic manager Gordon Strachan has confirmed Artur Boruc will keep his place for the Champions League clash with Villarreal.
The Poland goalkeeper was beaten by a 45-yard strike from John Rankin in Sunday's 2-0 Clydesdale Bank Premier League defeat at Hibernian but Strachan will ignore calls from numerous pundits and ex-Celtic players to drop the former Legia Warsaw player.
Defender Lee Naylor is out with a virus while midfielder Barry Robson is still struggling with a thigh knock.
Strachan is refusing to listen to Boruc's critics, restricting himself to one simple statement on the matter.
"Artur is going to play and that's all I really want to say on the Artur Boruc subject," he said.
Celtic striker Scott McDonald was more lucid on the subject of the man known as the `Holy Goalie', claiming the controversial keeper has the backing of the whole dressing room.
"People can make what they want of Artur but we can see his qualities in training each day," the Australia international said.
"I back him 100% and I am delighted for him he is going to play and I'm sure he will have a good game.
"Everyone makes mistakes but it is more highlighted as a goalkeeper. Unfortunately for Artur and us at the weekend, that was the case.
"If I make a mistake up front, it's not really highlighted as much.
"But everyone in the changing room is fully behind him. He is a top lad, an honest professional and he held his hand up at the weekend and that's all you can really ask.
"It's obviously one of those ones that he might not want to look back on, but he will be going out there wanting to prove a point."
McDonald added: "I will leave it to you to decide if the criticism has been unfair, but I think so.
"Other people will always have a go at you and it's how you react to that.
"But he's a strong character as we all know so he will take it on the chin and get on with it."
Villarreal coach Manuel Pellegrini is surprised Celtic have nothing but pride to play for.
The Spanish club are level with leaders Manchester United and are guaranteed to be in the last 16 but Strachan's men do not even have the consolation of the UEFA Cup to fall back on.
Pellegrini, looking forward to his 50th European match in charge of the Yellow Submarine, expected Celtic to be challenging for second in the group.
"When the group was drawn, I was sure that Manchester United would be in first place and second place would be between us and Celtic," he said. "As it turned out, Celtic haven't even qualified for the UEFA Cup so I'm very surprised.
"It was a hard-fought game when we played Celtic in Spain and we didn't get the better of them until we managed to score the goal."
Villarreal have an inferior goal difference to United so will need to better the Red Devils' result at home to Aalborg, or outscore them by two goals, to top the table.
Celtic have lost only to Barcelona at home in the Champions League proper - on two occasions - but Pellegrini will take heart from the 1-1 draw Villarreal carved out when the two clubs met in Glasgow in the quarter-finals of the 2003-04 UEFA Cup.
"It does appear to be difficult to win there but we would hope to do so," he said.
"Four years ago we got a good result in Glasgow but maybe Celtic will not be playing with as many nerves."
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