Celtic lose captain Brown for up to three months

Scottish champions Celtic FC will be without captain Scott Brown for three months after the midfielder suffered a hamstring injury.

Brown was carried off on a stretcher in Sunday's pre-season friendly against SK Rapid Wien and subsequent scans have shown the muscle has almost come away from the bone. The 29-year-old will now miss Celtic's UEFA Champions League second qualifying round tie against KR Reykjavík, the first leg of which is played next Tuesday, and is almost certain to sit out Scotland's first UEFA EURO 2016 qualifier in Germany on 7 September.

"It's not positive news for Scott," said Celtic manager Ronnie Deila. "He will be out for at least two months, maybe three. That's hard for him and hard for us, but we can't do anything about it. We have to try and get him back as quickly as possible. The hamstring has almost been ripped off. Scott doesn't need an operation but it is quite a big injury."