Alex McLeish has warned Brendan Rodgers that he will be demanding full release of his players for Scotland’s Euro 2020 qualifier away to Kazakhstan on March 21.
That match falls between Celtic’s away day at Dundee and the third Glasgow derby with the SFA planning to fly the squad out on March 17- the day that Celtic are in action at Dens Park.
Craig Gordon, Kieran Tierney, Callum McGregor, Oliver Burke, Ryan Christie and James Forrest are likely to be involved in the squad which will set off on the seven hour flight straight after the game at Dundee.
The opening match of the 2020 qualifying campaign isn’t played until Thursday March 21 but McLeish is already sending out a message about his demands on players.
“The Nations League is a bonus – we are really concentrated on the upcoming Euros,” he told the Daily Record.
“Again I would lean on the club managers to realise that the players are going to be called up from their clubs and it’s a massively important phase for us.
“We feel that if we get every player that is available to us that we want in the squad then obviously that increases our chances.”
After the Thursday night opener in Kazakhstan Scotland fly on to San Marino to face the minnows on the Sunday.
When Celtic have played in Kazakhstan in recent seasons they have flown in the day before, continued to work on UK times then played the match and flown straight out.
It seems that the SFA have taken a different view with the players spending four days in Astana which should give the committee men and hangers on plenty of time to enjoy the sunshine and explore the city.
