Celtic defender Charlie Mulgrew remains hopeful that he can recover from injury in time to feature in next month's Scottish League Cup final.

The 28-year-old has missed the last two months of action after damaging his knee, although having targeted a return to training in the next fortnight, he is still in with an outside chance of featuring against Dundee United at Hampden Park.

"The plan now is to be training in a couple of weeks and whether the final comes a bit early for me we will just have to wait and see," Sky Sports News quotes him as saying.

"It's been disappointing, and a long road but there is now light at the end of the tunnel and I am delighted to be back running outside and I can see an end goal of getting back training. It has been difficult but you just have to get on with it and work as hard as you can to get fit.

"It is coming to the business end of the season and there are a lot of big games coming up. It's disappointing to miss them but I am over that and now looking forward. Everyone will be pushing each other for starts and that will really stand us in good stead. I'm desperate to be involved and I'm doing everything I can to get back without rushing things."

Mulgrew has made 18 appearances for Celtic in all competitions this season.