Celtic assistant John Mjallby has sent his full support to former teammate Stiliyan Petrov after he was diagnosed with leukaemia on Friday.

The Aston Villa captain begins his recovery today and as he gets set to try and beat the disease, Mjallby has spoken highly of the Bulgarian after their time together at Parkhead between 1999 and 2004.

"It was terrible news about Stan's illness. All we can do is send our love and support to him," the Swede said.

"Today our fans applauded and chanted his name after 19 (Petrov's playing number) minutes of the game and that was fantastic.

"I spoke with Stan on Saturday and everything in life was put into perspective for me.

"Everyone is praying he will beat this illness and Stan is adamant he will.

"He was upbeat when I spoke with him, even though he was physically tired by getting calls from all over the world.

"Stan will feed off the support he's getting and I'm sure the strong boy I know will conquer this illness."

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