Ange Postecoglou has picked out two Celtic leaders who “stood up” during Callum McGregor’s injury absence.
Celtic’s skipper missed the club’s last 11 competitive matches after limping off 37 minutes in to our Champions League loss away to RB Leipzig.
In the meantime, the team have stretched their lead at the top of the Premiership table to six points, with a game in hand.
“To be fair to the lads, I think they carried his absence really well,” Postecoglou told the media today. (Celtic YouTube, 2:20 onwards)
“When you lose such an influential figure on and off the field, how do you cover that absence?
“The boys stepped up on the field. I thought the likes of Matt O’Riley and Reo Hatate in particular. Aaron Mooy, Turnbull, they put in a real shift.
“Off the field, in terms of his leadership, guys like Joe (Hart) and Cameron Carter-Vickers stood up.
“But there’s no doubt it’s great to have him back.”
While Celtic fans will be well aware of the jobs the likes of Mooy and O’Riley did covering McGregor during matches, the off the field stuff is always a little more interesting.
As captain, McGregor is clearly the driving force in the dressing room.
We get occasional examples of that on the pitch, like when he told his team-mates not to over-celebrate after the 3-0 win over Rangers in February.
But we also know that the Celtic squad has a lot of big characters. From the likes of Greg Taylor and Josip Juranovic to guys like James McCarthy who add humour to the camp.
Hart is an obvious leader given his experience but it’s great to hear that Carter-Vickers also stood up during the period McGregor was out.
With the Scotland international back for tomorrow, we should have no shortage of character on the pitch at Pittodrie.
In other news, Ange was also asked about Josip Juranovic today
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