RONNY DEILA is confident Scott Brown can avoid being banned from a potential shoot-out against Dinamo Zagreb to decide who goes through to the Europa League last 32.

The Hoops skipper will be forced to walk a suspension tightrope when he leads Celtic out against Red Bull Salzburg on Thursday. Brown knows that a booking in this clash with the Austrian champions would rule him out of the final group game in Croatia on December 11.

He was cautioned when the Hoops grabbed a 2-2 draw in Salzburg on Match Day One. The experienced 29-year-old steered clear of trouble in the games against Zagreb and Astra when they both lost at Parkhead.

But the combative midfielder was yellow-carded again when Celtic fought out a 1-1 draw with the Romanians in Giurgiu at the start of this month.

Three bookings automatically triggers a one-game ban. So if Brown picks up another card against Salzburg, he would be ruled out of the final Group D game in Zagreb.

That would be a huge blow to the Hoops if they need to take anything from that match.

Brown was suspended for Saturday's SPFL game against Dundee after picking up two bookings in the previous match, against Aberdeen.

His absence was sorely felt, as it was when he was injured during Celtic's failed bid to book a place in the Champions League Group Stages.

Of course, if Celtic can get the result they need against Salzburg - who have defender Andreas Ulmer suspended for this tie - the match in Zagreb could have nothing riding on it other than deciding who will go through as Group D winners.

But Deila will not tell his skipper to hold back or alter his approach in any way on Thursday.

He knows he needs Brown firing on all cylinders to give the Hoops the best possible chance of grabbing the victory they need to secure their place in next month's draw for the knockout rounds of the competition.

Deila said: "I will not be telling Scott to change his style. He has to play his game. But he knows it.

"We have to go 100 per cent into every game. If Scott is only going to be going at 70 per cent, it is not enough.

"He has to go in there and be himself, and we will see what happens.

"Hopefully, we win and he does not get a yellow card. That's what we want. But we have a lot of good players."

None as influential as Brown, however, as results when he has been missing have proved.

Deila believes it is testimony to his side's discipline that the skipper is the only player walking a disciplinary tightrope at this time.

Efe Ambrose was shown a straight red in Warsaw against Legia, but the records were wiped clean after the qualifiers and play-off matches.

And, in the four Group D games, the only other Celtic players to have joined Brown in the referee's book are Ambrose, Jason Denayer, Anthony Stokes, Aleksandar Tonev and Virgil van Dijk.