CELTIC could be heading for a mini-league to decide to their Champions League fate this season.

Though Barcelona will not be in it, the Catalan giants could still have a huge say in who goes through to the last 16 with them, who drops to the Europa League, and who goes out of Europe altogether.

And that could be a huge advantage to Celtic.

There is a scenario where the Hoops, Ajax and AC Milan could all finish on six points in Group H. For that to happen, Celtic must beat Milan at Parkhead tonight, while Ajax take a point from Barca in Amsterdam.

Then, if Celtic lose in the Nou Camp and Ajax draw in the San Siro with Milan, all three teams would finish level.

Under Uefa's rules, to determine the final order, Celtic, Ajax and Milan would have their results against each other - but excluding the matches with Barcelona - placed in a mini-league.

If that scenario does come to pass, Celtic would be placed in runners-up spot in with their six points gathered intact, while Milan and Ajax would be on five points as each would have had removed the point from their draws with Barca.

The Spaniards have already booked one of the two qualification places from Goup H with 10 points from their first four games.

But, in the three-way fight for the second spot, AC Milan are only one point above Ajax who are one ahead of Celtic.

If only two teams are level on points, it is a straight-forward process of taking their head-to-head results into account - first of all points then goal difference in the ties - to determine who finishes highest.

But, if three teams are on the same points after the group games are completed, it is decided on the results from matches only involving those teams.

Only if the clubs still couldn't be separated would Barca's results then be re-introduced.

It would take a freaky series of results to force this situation, but there is recent precedent.

Last term, Liverpool, Anzhi Makhachkala and Young Boys Of Berne all finished Europa League Group A on 10 points.

The results against the other team in the group, Udinese, were then discarded, and Young Boys - who had beaten the Italians twice - lost out.

Meanwhile, Celtic have been linked with Efe Amrose's Nigerian national team-mate, Bright Dike.

The 26-year-old striker plays for Toronto FC, but the MLS does not resume until March.

Dike has just returned from a serious knee injury and scored in the 2-2 draw against Italy last week.