Celtic star Alan Thompson hopes the international break will give him enough time to recover from the hamstring strain he sustained at the weekend.
The in-form midfielder received good news today after a scan showed that the injury, which forced him to hobble off during Saturday's 1-0 victory over Rangers, was not as serious as was originally feared.
He could still be out for up to three weeks as the hamstring strain will require rest and rehabilitation. But he is keeping his fingers crossed he will be fit in time to face Hearts on October 18th and Anderlecht three days later.
Thompson said: "It might not be as bad as it could have been, but I would still have preferred not to be injured at all.
"I don't like missing anything and that includes training as well as games. All I can do at the minute is wait and see what happens. I've no idea what I'll be doing or how it will be treated, I have to wait and see what the physio recommends when it settles down.
"It doesn't matter to me whether we are playing a domestic game or a Champions League game - I want to be playing in them and it's frustrating when you have to sit out.
"On Saturday afternoon it felt painful and uncomfortable and I knew I had no choice but to signal to the bench that I had to come off. It is the kind of injury that you don't mess around with otherwise you can end up with a real problem.
"I just have to see how it goes over the next few weeks now."
It could be that it comes at the ideal time with the international fixture list taking precedence over the next week.
Ironically manager Martin O'Neill has been touting him for a place in Sven-Goran Eriksson's England squad after his performances in recent weeks and the Swede's assistant Tord Grip has hinted that they could look at him after their Euro 2004 qualifier in Turkey.