SCOTTISH FA chief executive Ian Maxwell has defended Celtic's decision to fly out to Dubai for a winter training camp despite the Covid-19 pandemic - insisting that Neil Lennon and his players followed all the relevant guidelines.

The Premiership champions returned from the UAE on Friday and were rocked by the news that Christopher Jullien had tested positive for coronavirus upon their return, leading to 13 players and three members of the coaching staff entering self-isolation.

The Parkhead club's league fixture against Hibernian on Monday night is still scheduled to go ahead as planned, with Celtic expected to field a second-string side. However, there are reports that some of the Hibs players are feeling uneasy about the game going ahead.

Glasgow Times:

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Appearing on PLZ, Maxwell pointed out that Celtic had been granted permission to fly out to Dubai again this year - adding that there were strict protocols in place at the training camp too.

He said: "Celtic went over there and they had gone through a full review with the government group over the weekend.

"They have reviewed all the protocols that have been in place and that type of travel is allowed.

"There are measures in place when they were abroad in terms of how they interacted in the hotel. They had their own protocols in place when they wereover there.

"It's fair to say that if Celtic had been at home, they still would have had potentially one positive case but it would have been one player that was missing.

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"That is the danger of travelling abroad. There's a lot more inherent risk involved in that from a close contact perspective because of the travel on planes and travel on buses.

"From that perspective alone I'm sure Celtic are revisiting the requirement to go and the decision that they made."