Dubai

Celtic fans in the UAE could get a chance to see their heroes in Dubai on an annual basis, boss Brendan Rodgers has said.

The Bhoys manager has taken advantage of the Scottish Premiership reintroducing the winter break to bring his squad to the emirate for some warm-weather training.

And should the half-term holiday continue in years to come, Rodgers would be keen to come back. “It’s certainly an opportunity for us at this time of the year and I would certainly always look at it for sure,” Rodgers, whose side are training at Zabeel Stadium this week, said.

Many visits

Rodgers said he has visited Dubai “a lot” over the past decade.

“There’s not too many better places in the world than Dubai to come to,” he insisted.

But Rodgers said the amount of matches Celtic have played this season made him decide against arranging a friendly while in Dubai.

“We’ve played 44 games from June to the end of December so this allows us to recover,” he said.

“We’ve played enough games. We need more time on the training pitch.”