Skipper Scott Brown insists the Celtic dressing-room is right behind race-row player Aleksandar Tonev.
The Bulgarian winger was suspended by the SFA for seven matches for using “offensive, insulting and abusive language of a racist nature” towards Aberdeen defender Shay Logan when the two teams met in September, however, he is available to play against Aberdeen this weekend after Celtic appealed the ban,
Tonev missed the 1-0 home Premiership win over Inverness at the weekend but travelled to Romania with the rest of the Hoops squad for tonight’s Europa League tie with Astra Giurgiu.
Celtic appealed the decision yesterday and at the pre-match press conference in Bucharest Scotland midfielder Brown offered his thoughts on the controversial issue.
The Celtic captain said: “We all stick by him. We know he didn’t say it, so I think that’s the main thing and all the lads in the dressing-room believe him.
“I don’t think he needs to explain himself.
“We all believe him. He says he didn’t do it and we stand by him.
“We know Aleksandar doesn’t come in and lie. He talks to everyone in that changing room, so we have no problem.”
Manager Ronny Deila watched attacker Anthony Stokes turn up at the airport but sent him home as the player was suffering from a sore throat and had a fever.
Deila also remains steadfast behind Tonev, although he admits it will be easier to play him against Astra than against Aberdeen at Pittodrie at the weekend.
He said: “We will talk with him. I think it is easier to play in Europe than to play in Scotland right now, because of what is happening and also because it is against Aberdeen, so it will be tougher to play than right now.
“I don’t think anyone in Romania is interested in that case.
“I understand that it is a tough situation for him and the club. We have put in the appeal and hopefully we get that right because this is a very hard penalty when it is word against word and we believe the player.”
Celtic are behind Salzburg at the top of Group D with seven points from three games, following their 2-1 win over the Romanians in Glasgow last month.
Deila believes 10 points should be enough to get through to the last 32 – an achievement he believes would beat winning the league with Stromsgodset in Norway.
“I am happy with the position,” he said. “We have three very hard games now. It is quite tight but I think if we get victory this week we have a very good chance of going through and it would be the biggest achievement of my career.
“It will be very big. We are talking about Europe now. It is hard to compare achievements but there are more teams in the tournament and it is much bigger to go through in Europe than be a champion in Norway.”