Celtic centre-back Cameron Carter-Vickers was absent from the first-team squad's training at Lennoxtown this morning, in what was the final midweek session ahead of Sunday's encounter with Rangers.

Celtic play host to their city rivals in two days at Celtic Park, in what will be the first meeting of the two sides of the 2024/25 Scottish Premiership campaign.

Carter-Vickers has been a constant figure in these high-profile encounters of the last few seasons, and manager Brendan Rodgers addressed the central defender's absence during his pre-match press conference on Friday afternoon.

Rodgers said: "No, it's just about giving him a wee day of recovery.

"Sometimes we do that in our sessions. When players are overloaded, we can take one or two out and give them a recovery day having worked hard all week."