Hamburg´s Boateng in fitness race for Celtic

Hamburg’s Germany defender Jerome Boateng faces a race against time to be fit for Thursday’s Europa League game against Glasgow Celtic, it was revealed Tuesday.

The 21-year-old, who was sent off in Moscow last month on his full German debut when his side booked their place at next year’s World Cup with a 1-0 win over Russia, has an ankle injury and did not train Tuesday.

If Boateng is ruled out, Czech Republic defender David Rozehnal will take his place for the match at Hamburg’s HSH Nordbank Arena.

Celtic are bottom of Group C while Hamburg are leaders and the Scottish side must must win on German soil for the first time in their history to revive their hopes of qualifying.

Celtic goalkeeper Artur Boruc will miss the match after undergoing knee surgery which will keep him on the sidelines for up to a month.

The 29-year-old has missed Celtic’s last three games and went under the knife for a tidy-up operation once the club received confirmation from UEFA that Dominic Cervi could be added to their Europa League squad list as back-up to Lukasz Zaluska.

“We would not have agreed to Artur having the operation if the clearance for Dominic had not been granted,” said manager Tony Mowbray.

“Now the hope is Artur will be back in time for the league game against Dundee United in three weeks.”