CELTIC manager Gordon Strachan is confident Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink, Craig Beattie and Kenny Miller will all be fit to face AC Milan in the Champions League on Tuesday after the trio suffered niggling injuries in the victory over Aberdeen.

Vennegoor of Hesselink and Beattie were both substituted in the second half after picking up slight strains, while Miller sustained a gash to his head after colliding with assistant referee James Bee as he tried to warm up.

After the game, Strachan said he was delighted with the way Beattie and Vennegoor of Hesselink performed.

He paid tribute to Beattie in particular, who scored the opening goal at Pittodrie, to add to his match-winning goal against Hibernian last weekend.

"Jan and Craig both played well and I thought Beattie was good and I liked what he did, " he said.

"I had a word with him about last week's performance, but he has taken in what I had to say.

"Jan developed a bit of a strain to his hamstring which hindered him in the second half, but I am hoping that we took him and Craig off early enough, so that they will both be all right.

"I would have liked for it to have been my own choice that they came off, but they had a look at the situation and decided that it wasn't worth staying on."

Strachan had planned to replace Beattie with Miller when the goalscorer requested to be substituted, but the Celtic boss revealed how the former Hibernian player had to receive treatment following a bizarre touchline incident.

"Beattie told me that he had to come off, but my other striker was getting stitched in the dressing room after running into the linesman, " Strachan said.

"A wisdom tooth was already giving him problems so his face is swollen up and then there was blood pouring from his head.

"So it wasn't a great day for Kenny."

Despite those knocks, Celtic recorded a thoroughly merited victory over Aberdeen, which was instigated by Beattie.

He collected a fine pass from Shunsuke Nakamura to beat Jamie Langfield with a low shot in the ninth minute.

Nakamura was in brilliant form in the opening stages and when Russell Anderson was adjudged to have pulled back Vennegoor of Hesselink on the edge of the area, the Japanese midfielder scored with a wonderful free-kick.

But Aberdeen manager Jimmy Calderwood was not happy with the decision from referee Craig Thomson to penalise his captain.

He said: "I need to see the tape, but Russell is a very honest player and said that he never did anything."

The Dons boss praised his side for trying to fight back after going two goals down though, and the Pittodrie club twice came close to pulling a goal back before the break.

First, Barry Nicholson volleyed over, while Celtic goalkeeper Artur Boruc had to produce an outstanding save to keep a brilliant 25yard-shot by Chris Clark from finding the top corner.

The second half was a more even affair, with Jiri Jarosik missing Celtic's best chance following a chip which was saved.

Darren Mackie eventually found a way to goal late on, but Aberdeen never looked like restoring parity, as Celtic won in the Granite City for the second time this season.