Nadir Ciftci: Celtic boss predicts long career for striker after bite ban

Nadir Ciftci flew out with the Celtic squad for their Champions League qualifier

Celtic say they do not condone Nadir Ciftci's behaviour following his six-match ban for biting an opponent but believe it is time to "move on".

Ex-Dundee United striker Ciftci will miss Celtic's opening six league games after being found guilty of biting Jim McAlister in May's Dundee derby.

The 23-year-old is available for Wednesday's match against Stjarnan.

"We have lot of strikers in the club who can do a job when he's out," said Celtic manager Ronny Deila.

"We want to move on, that's the most important thing because he has a long career here at Celtic and this is just the start and now we have to focus on football.

"He's ready for playing and looking forward to the next match."

Ciftci (grounded) was found guilty of biting Jim McAlister on the leg in the Dundee derby

Deila revealed it was Celtic who decided not to appeal against the ban.

And, earlier as the squad prepared to fly out to Iceland for Wednesday's Champions League second qualifying round second leg, assistant boss John Collins said: "We all learn from our mistakes and hopefully it won't happen again.

"We're obviously disappointed for Nadir and ourselves. But the decision has been made and we just have to move on. We'll wait on him coming back.

"It happened with his previous club and we knew the hearing was yesterday [Monday]. We just had to wait for the decision being made. We move on and he moves on."

Asked whether the club condones such behaviour, Collins said: "No, not at all. We want our players to be competitive but within the laws of the game."

The ban was decided by a panel convened by the Scottish Football Association after Ciftci denied the offence.

Referee Bobby Madden took no action at the time.

Following the match, which United won 3-0 with Ciftci scoring twice, the Tannadice club accused Dundee players of "quite severe physical and totally unacceptable verbal provocation" towards the striker.

McAlister, 29, is currently training with Blackpool having been released by Dundee.