Celtic have been handed a major boost ahead of their upcoming Europa League fixture.

What's the latest?

According to a report by the Daily Record, Bayer Leverkusen will be without four key players when Celtic visit the BayArena on Thursday evening, with Julian Baumgartlinger, Timothy Fosu-Mensah, Mitchel Bakker and Lucas Alario all looking set to be sidelined for the Europa League clash.

Postecoglou will be buzzing

Considering the fact that Celtic must ensure they defeat Leverkusen on Thursday if they are to have any chance of qualifying for the knockout stages of the Europa League, the news that the Bundesliga side will be without their quartet of injured players is sure to have left Ange Postecoglou buzzing.

Indeed, Timothy Fosu-Mensah has impressed over his six league appearances for Bayer so far this season, averaging a SofaScore match rating of 6.80 in the German top flight, while Baumgartlinger, Bakker and Alario have all also been integral players within Gerardo Seoane's side.

Furthermore, centre-forward Alario and left-back Bakker both enjoyed extremely fine games in Leverkusen's 4-0 demolition of Celtic at Parkhead in the reverse fixture, with Alario getting himself on the scoresheet against the Bhoys, while Bakker earned an impressive 7.6 SofaScore match rating for his efforts in the clash.

As such, the news that none of this quartet look set to feature on Thursday is undoubtedly a major boost for Postecoglou and his side, who will be hoping to keep their current run of nine fixtures without defeat going against their German counterparts - while a win would potentially represent a huge step towards securing passage through to the next round of the Europa League.

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