Martin O'Neill is struggling to contain a potentially damaging outbreak of bickering within the Celtic squad over who was to blame for Wednesday's Champions League defeat at the hands of Bayern Munich.
Two late goals for Bayern saw O'Neill's men come away from the Olympic Stadium with nothing after they had more than matched the German champions for over an hour and led through Alan Thompson's header.
O'Neill must now pick his troops up in time for Saturday's Scottish Premier League clash with Motherwell at Parkhead.
But his task has not been helped by the ongoing recriminations over who was to blame for the defeat in Munich.
First Thompson branded his team-mates as unprofessional and then midfielder Neil Lennon laid the blame for the defeat squarely at the feet of the Celtic back four and goalkeeper Magnus Hedman.
"The goals we lost were down to poor defending," Lennon complained. "The second one was nonsense. We should have dealt with it but we didn't and we ended up losing a game in which we were cruising."
Bayern's winning goal certainly had a farcical edge to it, an innocuous cross floating past defenders and Hedman and into the net.
But it is rare in such situations to hear players blaming each other and O'Neill is well aware of the importance of getting the lingering frustration from Wednesday's match out of his players' systems.
In contrast to the gloomy mood around Parkhead, Rangers prepare for their Sunday trip to Hearts on a high after coming from behind to get their own Champions League campaign off to a winning start against Stuttgart.
It was a victory that came at a price however with Dutch right back Fernando Ricksen sidelined for up to four weeks after suffering concussion in a clash of heads with teammate Henning Berg.
Scotland defender Maurice Ross, who came on for Ricksen in the Stuttgart match, is expected to step in again, despite admitting he is likely to need surgery to correct a niggling hernia problem.
"I've been struggling with a stomach niggle for a while now and the doctors think it might be a hernia. You can play on for a while but you do eventually need to get it fixed," Ross said.
Dundee entertain Aberdeen at Dens Park in a warm-up for their UEFA Cup clash with Perugia next week, by which time they hope to have completed the signing of former Juventus striker Fabrizio Ravanelli.
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