Unfortunately Sutton will not get the chance to face younger brother John when he comes to Parkhead with Dundee in the Bank of Scotland Premier League tomorrow.

And O’Neill has warned him that he could also miss out on coming face to face with another familiar face in Larsson unless he can return to full training by Monday.

“We haven’t ruled Tuesday out yet,” explained the Celtic boss. “But with the length of time he has been out he would probably need to train on Monday and see how it goes.”

O’Neill believes the mind games have already started ahead of their opening Group F match following comments emanating from Barcelona manager Frank Rijkaard.

The Dutchman claims he fears another European exit at the hands of Celtic after last season’s UEFA Cup defeat and that he is dreading taking his stars back to Parkhead.

But O’Neill laughed off those remarks, claiming that if they were serious about winning the Champions League and La Liga then a trip to Glasgow should hold no concerns.

“It’s pretty much hype and nothing else,” he continued.

“If he says the Barcelona players are worried about coming back to play here and they have aspirations of winning the Champions League, which they have, and La Liga, which they have, then playing here is no problem to them.”

With Larsson, Deco and co flying into Glasgow on Monday it is understandable that tomorrow’s game with Dundee is being overlooked – but not by the Northern Irishman and his squad.

“I don’t think it’s hard at all to concentrate on this,” said O’Neill.

“That’s been the feature of the last couple of seasons. We have been able to concentrate either side of a Champions League match so it’s not a problem at all.

“The players have given absolutely everything in games and if we haven’t had the desired result then that’s been because the other team has been better than us or because of luck.”

But the Celtic boss has warned tomorrow’s visitors that Juninho will be even more dangerous having had more time to settle into his new surroundings and put in more training.

The Brazilian made an instant impact when he was named man of the match in the win over Rangers at the end of last month just hours after completing his move from Middlesbrough.

O’Neill said: “He’s enjoying it and he can reflect on a very decent debut for the club.

“He is getting to know the players now and his training has been very, very good.”

The Celtic boss missed out on signing Dwight Yorke and Marcel Desailly before the transfer deadline but he is still refusing to rule out bringing in free agents this season.

“There are always a number of players out of contract and that is a distinct possibility,” concluded O’Neill.