Martin O’Neill revealed Alistair Johnston and Callum Osmand were both preparing for hamstring surgery after Celtic’s injury list lengthened during a 4-0 win over Kilmarnock.
Marcelo Saracchi joined the list of players sidelined with hamstring issues, which also includes Kelechi Iheanacho, when he pulled up in the first half.
His replacement, Kieran Tierney, scored from long range to add to Johnny Kenny’s close-range finish before late goals from Daizen Maeda and Arne Engels rounded off a win which saw Celtic cut the deficit on William Hill Premiership leaders Heats to seven points.
But they go into the international break amid continued uncertainty over the management situation and with key players facing lengthy lay-offs.
When asked about Saracchi, O’Neill said: “He’s done his hamstring. He’s going to be out. And the other two lads, Johnston and Osmand, are getting surgery on Tuesday. So they’re going to be out for a long time.”
Osmand was carried off on a stretcher during Thursday’s defeat by Midtjylland and Johnston recently had an aborted comeback to the injury he first suffered on August 20.
O’Neill said of the Canada right-back: “They had to wait a little while just to get a clear picture of the hamstring and the scan has shown a tear as well
“So that’s really sad because everybody says he’s a really, really good player.”
The Northern Irishman previously stated he expected Celtic to make progress on their search for a permanent successor to Brendan Rodgers during this international break, but he remains in the dark.
He said: “I’m going to go into a darkened room and come out on Thursday and see has this really happened?
“I should imagine at some stage or another during the course of the next week that somebody will let me know what’s happening.”
When asked if he would consider an extended stay, the 73-year-old said: “I really don’t know. I was going to say, it’s a young man’s game, and I’m almost talking myself out of this here.
“But it’s been tough. All the things that I kind of thought I knew about it have come to sort of fruition. You know, about the strength of the side, or what I thought I saw from a distance, the European football and what has happened to the football club since Bayern Munich (in February).”
O’Neill handed on-loan Manchester City central defender Jahmai Simpson-Pusey his debut at right-back.
“I took a bit of a risk really on the Manchester City lad,” he said. “I thought, if he can play centre-half, maybe he can play out there.
“He got off to not a brilliant start to begin with. I thought about taking him off after four minutes. But don’t tell him that.
“He actually did fine. I think he got applauded off the pitch, which was nice. Not necessarily by me, but I was delighted.”
Killie suffered a fifth defeat in a row but they threatened an equaliser through Bruce Anderson and Scott Tiffoney, and were on the front foot for spells of the second half.
Manager Stuart Kettlewell said: “We showed bits of what we want to be. We were reasonably well structured. But it’s those moments of switching off that are absolutely our Achilles heel right now.
“Plain and simple, it’s not been good enough for us between the last international break to this one.
“We need to go and work hard over this break. This idea of players going away to get a bit of sunshine isn’t going to be a thing.”
