RONNY DEILA faces a double sweat ahead of Sunday's League Cup final - with Nir Bitton battling injury to be ready for Hampden and Virgil van Dijk facing a ban.

Bitton limped out of the 1-1 draw in the Scottish Cup quarter-final tie at Tannadice yesterday.

And Deila revealed the Israeli international damaged an ankle and admits he will have to wait to see if he can recover in time for their Hampden re-union with United.

The manager explained: "Nir twisted his ankle.

"When pitches are like that (Tannadice), you get things like this.

"You never know how serious it might be, We will see tomorrow."

Having become a key figure in the side, Bitton's absence would be a huge blow to the Hoops, who already fear they may be without Van Dijk for the first final of the season.

The Celtic manager will review footage of the ninth-minute incident which saw the Dutch defender red-carded along with Paul Paton in the tousy tie at Tannadice.

As Van Dijk and Paton were sent off for violent conduct, they will be automatically suspended for Sunday's final.

United manager Jackie McNamara was unhappy at the initial challenge by Scott Brown on Nadir Ciftci at the start of the sequence of confrontations which led to the double dismissal.

He plans to submit an appeal on the grounds of mistaken identity as it appeared to be Calum Butcher who was involved with Van Dijk.

Deila could follow suit, if, after studying the incident, he believes Van Dijk's red card was not justified.

Van Dijk was also sent off against Inter Milan in the San Siro a fortnight ago.

And Deila - who reckoned Aidan Connolly dived for United's penalty - was disappointed to discover Stefan Johansen will be banned from the Scottish Cup replay with United on March 18, to determine who plays wither Inverness or Raith Rovers in the semi-final.

The Norwegian midfielder collected his second caution of the competition in the closing stages of yesterday's draw, which also saw United's Paul Dixon sent off for using an arm to prevent a Leigh Griffiths shot entering the net when the score was still 1-0 to United.

But Deila does not believe his players have any disciplinary issues.

He said: "In Italy, Virgil did not deserve his red card, so that is something different.

"My lads have good discipline. There is no problem with that."

Deila reported he has already spoken to Van Dijk about yesterday's incident and revealed: "He was very unhappy.

"I have not seen the incident a second time, but there were two tough tackles there and some kicking to each other.

"There was also one kicking Broonie as well in the tackle.

"These are things the SFA have to deal with."

The Hoops boss will now turn his attention to Sunday's final, and concedes his side will have to start better than they did yesterday.

He said: "First half was not good enough.

"We should have been more direct and fought more for second balls.

"But, we did that in the second half.

"The players showed character and I'm happy about that. We should have won it but I can live with a draw."