Celtic & Aberdeen matches postponed

Celtic and Aberdeen have had their next two Scottish Premiership matches postponed after their players broke lockdown rules.

Scotland's first minister Nicola Sturgeon demanded the cancellation after Celtic defender Boli Bolingoli flew to Spain, failed to quarantine, then played in a match.

Ms Sturgeon said this was a "flagrant breach" of the guidelines, while Celtic manager Neil Lennon described himself as "livid" after the "incredibly selfish" player had gone "rogue".

Police Scotland confirmed Bolingoli had been issued with a fixed penalty notice for breaching quarantine regulations.

The previous weekend, eight Aberdeen players broke lockdown regulations by visiting a bar together.

Following the first minister's intervention, it has been confirmed that Celtic's trip to St Mirren and Aberdeen's meeting with Hamilton Academical on Wednesday are both off. So, too, is the game between Celtic and Aberdeen on Saturday.

That comes after Aberdeen's game at St Johnstone last weekend was postponed following Scottish government intervention.

At her daily briefing earlier on Tuesday, Ms Sturgeon said that "as a minimum, you should not be expecting to see Aberdeen or Celtic play in the coming week."

She added: "Consider today the yellow card. The next time it will be the red card because you will leave us with absolutely no choice."

Speaking on BBC Radio 5 live later in the day, national clinical director Professor Jason Leitch said halting Scottish football had been "considered" but that the postponements were a "proportionate response".

"I'm a fan, I don't want to [close down football], but it is available to us and we have to be prepared to use it," he said.

"We have shut high streets, we've shut schools. You have to be able to go backwards if you've gone forwards."