Ange Postecoglou has responded to Steve Clarke's comments regarding Celtic not releasing their players for Scotland duty this month.

The Hoops' Scotland players will be travelling with Postecoglou and the rest of the team to Australia for their mid-season break.

Clarke's national side have a friendly match against Turkey during the World Cup break too.

The Scotland boss admitted it was "disappointing" that the likes of Greg Taylor and James Forrest wouldn't be made available to him for the game. 

But Postecoglou has defended Celtic's decision.

He told BBC Scotland: "Steve's got every right to be disappointed, he's the national team manager. I've been there and I've been disappointed.

"As a club manager sometimes we're disappointed when players go away with national teams and get injured or don't play. We all get over our disappointment pretty quickly.

"I've no issue with Steve. I wish him all the best but, for us, this has been in our planning for quite a while. We've got guys away going to the World Cup as well so it's not just Scotland that we've kept the guys from.

"We think this tour is important for us, important for our supporters, it's important for our club and that's why we've taken the decision."

Asked if he felt the need to explain his call to Clarke, he responded: "I haven't had the need to any other time, no different now. I've caught up with Steve a few times, he's done a fantastic job as national team manager and we're always supportive.

"We're one of the clubs that have provided quite a few players for the national team and we always have been.

"But, as he said today, this is not our issue this is FIFA's issue. They're the ones who didn't designate an international window which gives us the right to keep our players."