WHO can replace Scott Brown for Celtic? Well, no one really. The Celtic captain, according to club legend Danny McGrain, is one of a kind.

But when the question is put to the iconic full-back of who is best-placed to lead the Celtic team in Brown’s absence, there is barely a moment’s hesitation before the response comes across loud and clear.

“Kieran Tierney,” McGrain replies. “I think Kieran has got the aptitude to lead.

“He’s so keen and so eager, he’s a supporter of the club too.

“Callum McGregor has been great too. He’s played outside left, left midfield and all over the park. It depends what you are looking for in a captain.

“Broony is Broony, he’s a one-off. You can’t fill that role, it is unfillable. [But] Kieran is the first one I would think of.

“Broony gave the armband to Mikael Lustig at the weekend, but I don’t know if maybe he was just the first person that Broony saw! Broony must have thought that he wasn’t walking away over to Tierney.

"Tierney for me has got all the ingredients to be a captain, and he’s only 21, which is great.

“I can’t think of anyone else that would be better, and that’s no disrespect to the other players.

“It’s hard to replace somebody like Broony, but I think Kieran has the stature to do that long-term.

“He’s captured the supporters’ hearts. He’s a great guy and a good player. He is determined, and that comes out to the supporters, who love him.

“He’s shown that to the fans without even trying. His energy when he first came in was amazing, and he’s still doing it.

“He’s only 21, I was still doing it when I was 31!”

McGrain says that Tierney returning to Hampden to lift the Scottish Cup in 2017 after being at hospital for treatment to a broken jaw shows that he is officer material.

“He was still concussed when he did that I think,” laughed McGrain. “But no, he knew what he was doing.

“You don’t get to many Scottish Cup finals, nobody in Scottish football does.

“We might do it more than most and Rangers might too, but for your Hearts and your Motherwells, it’s a great thing.

“I don’t think we take it lightly. I don’t care how many leagues or cups you have won, you never take it for granted.

“Every cup final is one to remember, and Kieran will remember that, going up to get the cup with his face smashed in.

“Everybody remembers that, because he was bloodied and had been knocked out, but he came back.”

McGrain is hoping that Celtic can keep the momentum going from their recent impressive wins over St Johnstone and Hibs when they take on RB Leipzig in Germany tonight, before facing Hearts in the League Cup semi-final on Sunday.

“European ties have their own intensity, their own sprinkling of gold dust,” he said. “Sunday at Murrayfield will be a different thing entirely.

“Hearts are at the top of the table, which is where Celtic have been accustomed to being for years now. “We’re now doing the chasing but the fact that they are the leaders should make us more determined to beat them and get to the final of the League Cup.

“Plus, if we knock them out it’ll dent their confidence and that could be a big thing because we play them at home in the league the following weekend.

“When you play the same team again in such a short space of time you always hope that a good result in the first game will help you in the second one and that could be the case here.

“Both matches are of equal importance but whoever wins on Sunday will feel better about themselves going into the return match and Celtic getting to the final can also help them move three points closer to Hearts when they come to Parkhead.”