Celtic manager Martin O'Neill is hopeful Camilo Duran will be available for Thursday's Europa League clash with Benfica after the Colombian forward missed the flight to Lisbon due to the impending birth of his child.

Martin O'Neill is optimistic that Camilo Duran will join Celtic for their Europa League encounter with Benfica on Thursday, despite the influential striker missing the flight to Lisbon as he awaits the arrival of his child.

The Colombian was notably absent from the Hoops squad that trained at Celtic Park on Wednesday ahead of their departure to Portugal later that day.

"Camilo is hoping to be out here later on," O'Neill explained at Estadio da Luz on Wednesday evening. "His partner's having a baby and obviously he wanted to be there at the birth.

"If everything goes alright without complications then he'll come out."

O'Neill also confirmed that Cameron Carter-Vickers will miss the fixture due to a hamstring injury, as Celtic prepare to face formidable opponents. While the Hoops opened their campaign with a 3-1 home defeat to Ferencvaros, Benfica secured an impressive 2-0 victory over AC Milan at the San Siro.

"They'll be disappointed that they're not in the Champions League, and they would be one of the favourites to win this competition," O'Neill remarked, drawing confidence from Celtic's commanding 2-0 triumph at Motherwell on Sunday.

"It'll be a really big test for us but it's one that we want to experience. We're ready to go.

"On Sunday I thought we'd played some really fantastic football. Of course this is a different team, different atmosphere, different stadium, different everything, so it'll be a tough game, but we're really looking forward to it."

Benfica have already seen off Scottish opposition this season following a commanding 7-2 aggregate victory over Hearts in the third qualifying round. The Portuguese giants have gone on to win nine of their last 10 fixtures since being held to a 1-1 draw at Tynecastle in the second leg two months ago.

"They'll have gained a great deal of confidence from starting off the competition by winning in Milan," O'Neill remarked. "That's not easy.

"They played very well here against Hearts. But I don't think that I can take too much from that. All it proved was how good a side Benfica are.

"But if we show the capabilities that we definitely can do, then I think we can cause problems."

O'Neill – who said it was "really lovely" to be leading Celtic in Lisbon, the city where the club famously lifted the European Cup back in 1967 – expressed confidence that his squad can handle the twin pressures of Europa League competition while simultaneously defending their William Hill Premiership crown.

"The Premiership is very, very important for us, obviously. But while we're here, our ambition is to try and qualify for the knockout stages of the competition," he stated.

"We've got some time in which to do it, but obviously we didn't get off to a great start. The players are looking forward to the games, they want to play, they want to contest European football.

"Last season, we had four games in about 10 days, and it was really hectic and really took its toll. But we think we're equipped for it. We think that we're ready to go and we want to compete."