Brendan Rodgers says that Livingston’s plastic pitch factored into his thinking as he decided not to risk captain Callum McGregor this weekend ahead of Celtic's upcoming clash against Rangers.

McGregor has been out of action since being withdrawn at half time in the 7-1 defeat of Dundee in late February, but has now returned to full training with his teammates during the international break.

That has put him in real contention to lead his team out in the crucial fixture at Ibrox next Sunday, and Rodgers doesn’t want to do anything that might lessen his chances of doing just that.

“Callum has been out on the field, but we won’t risk him for this game,” Rodgers said.

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“He’s got a very good chance of being available for next week’s game.

“You have to consider it [the pitch]. With Callum we have to think about it and it comes into the thinking, especially on the back of an international break.

“We’re all hopeful in the future we’ll have quality grass pitches here and supporters will see the best possible game that they can.

“But at this moment, we play on the plastic pitch, and we have to deal with it. And we think about team selection, and from Callum’s perspective, it’s too much of a risk.”

Rodgers’ squad will though be boosted for the trip to the Tony Macaroni Arena by the presence of Cameron Carter-Vickers and Reo Hatate.

“Cameron is fine, Reo Hatate is back and available in the squad, which is great news,” he said.

“He has worked very hard, he played a bounce game in the time off and he has built up his fitness. So, it’s great news he’s back.

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“Yang’s come back with a bit of tightness so we just need to make sure it’s nothing more serious than that. He played two 60 minutes and a 30 minutes while he was away, so we just need to make sure he’s ok.

“Luis Palma will just miss out on this weekend, hopefully he’ll be available soon.”