ANGE POSTECOGLOU says that the facial injury Callum McGregor picked up in the Scottish Cup win over Alloa is ‘significant’, and he expects to be without his captain for a quite some time.

McGregor was forced from the action after Alloa’s Adam King clattered into the side of his head as the pair challenged for a high ball, with the Celtic skipper looking dazed as he was helped from the field.

While reluctant to put a timescale on McGregor’s possible absence, the Celtic manager did concede that he doesn’t expect him to be back in action any time soon.

“Cal's a significant injury,” Postecoglou said. “It's a facial injury, I don't know what it is but he's not a great shape. It's not going to be a short-term, it looked significant.

"It's been that sort of season. We have just had challenge after challenge and what we've done so far is just get on with it. He's a very important player, not just for what he contributes as a footballer, but as a person. I am gutted for him more than anything else.”

When asked if the injury would rule McGregor out of the Rangers game on February 2nd, Postecoglou replied: "We've got a game Wednesday night, you guys can talk about the fictitious future that might arise, but the game on Wednesday night is all we are focused on and he won't play Wednesday night, which is a blow.

"I am not a doctor. There's a point I can't go beyond. It's a significant injury.

"That's been our season. There's not been a weekend where I have everyone available, maybe it's still to come. We just have to get on with it."

Liel Abada and Yosuke Ideguchi were also injured during the game, but Postecoglou confirmed that both players should be ok.

Aside from his injury woes, the Celtic manager was satisfied to progress to a Scottish Cup fifth round home tie against Raith Rovers, if not exactly enthralled by his team’s showing.

"The main thing in cup competitions is to progress and we did that,” he said.

“We could have made it easier for ourselves by killing the game in the first half. We created enough opportunities to make it a more comfortable victory.

"It was a difficult pitch for the way we play. We had quite a few guys getting their first significant game time for a while.

With all that in mind, it was okay."