Celtic keeper Craig Gordon believes that the Parkhead side can cope with the loss of Virgil Van Dijk.

The Dutch defender is believed to have missed training yesterday morning and while Ronny Deila insisted that the player was in the squad for today’s game against St Johnstone, it is inevitable that he will go before the window closes.

Celtic will begin their Europa League campaign in the 17th September with an away game in Amsterdam against Ajax and they are certain to embark on that game without Van Dijk.

“Of course we can compete in Europe without him,” said Gordon. “That's not a problem, there's other players who can come in and take his place.

“He's a fantastic player and a great defender and a great footballer. If he does go he'll be a big miss. But that's what happens in football - if he moves somebody else will have the opportunity to come in and stake their claim.”

Meanwhile, the Scotland internationalist has insisted that he has no issue with the Parkhead policy of opting for zonal marking at set-pieces.

Celtic shipped three of their four goals against Malmo from set-pieces but Gordon maintains that it is the best way for the club to defend.

“I feel very comfortable with it,” he said. “If everybody does their job and attacks the space in front of them you've a very good chance of winning the ball. We had three big guys across the six-yard line trying to defend that area but they put in good quality balls and we didn't manage to get our side right.

“We did zonal at Hearts and I felt it worked very well when I was there. It depends on the players you have at your disposal but when we have the big guys across the six-yard box it's quite an imposing thing to put the ball past them but they managed to do it.”