Celtic striker Moussa Dembele gave the Parkhead side hope that he might be able to play a part in tomorrow night’s UEFA Champions League third round, second leg qualifier against AEK Athens. The French under-21 internationalist has travelled with the Celtic party for the critical game in Greece, with the tie balanced in favour of Athens following the 1-1 draw in the opening leg in Glasgow. Dembele has been sidelined since July after limping out of Celtic’s 3-0 home win against Alaskhert in the opening round of the qualification process. Rodgers revealed last week that the striker had made a tentative return to training but was unsure about risking him too early for fear of a recurrence of the hamstring problem. However, with Celtic desperately needing to score against AEK Athens in order to make it into the UEFA play-off round for Europe’s premier competition it could be that Dembele is drafted in to play some part in the tie. Certainly, if he is available to play the striker would give Celtic some cause for optimism as they seek to tilt the balance of the game back in their favour. One player who will not feature against the Greeks is defender Dedryck Boyata. The Belgian defender missed training at Lennoxtown on Friday after complaints of a sore back, however his agent has been public in claiming that he won’t play for Celtic again for fear of picking up an injury that could wreck his chances of a move. It is a frustrating turn of events for Rodgers who blocked the £9m offer that came in for the player from Fulham last weekend. Rodgers felt that there was not adequate time to source a replacement. Whether that opinion changes given Boyata’s behaviour over this weekend remains to be seen but certainly a bid from Seville seems likely for the defender. In any case, Rodgers’ immediate thoughts will be on engineering a way past AEK tomorrow night.