Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou has been left extremely impressed with how determined Callum McGregor was to face Rangers last night.
McGregor returned from a significant facial injury picked up in the 2-1 Scottish Cup win over Alloa a fortnight ago. The injury looked set to rule the player out of last night’s 3-0 hammering of Rangers at Parkhead.
However, the Celtic captain showed his steel as he played through the pain barrier with a mask over his face. It was a hugely impressive display as he bossed the engine room and sent the Ibrox club packing.
And Ange has revealed how in awe he was of the “incredible” McGregor’s determination to play as he outlined their private pre-match chat.
As quoted by the Scottish Sun, Ange said: “Callum was outstanding again – the fact that he even played tonight was incredible. But he is the kind of leader people follow. It is a credit to him.
“He never ruled himself out from the first day, he knew how important this game was. We have significant absences. But he trained yesterday and we had a chat with him. He said: ‘I am going to play, I am fine, no problems,’ when a lot of players wouldn’t have done that.”
Callum McGregor leads from the front as Celtic overcome Rangers test
If anything speaks volumes about McGregor’s commitment to the cause, it was what he managed to achieve last night. Sure, the performances of Liel Abada and Reo Hatate will take centre-stage, but we can’t forget just what Callum put on the line last night.
If Celtic were playing St Mirren or Dundee United at home last night, then with all due respect, McGregor would’ve been rested. But because of the significance of the fixture, because of how much it meant to the supporters and the football club, Callum put himself out there and got stuck in against our rivals.
And it was hardly a performance in which anything was being held back either. Far from it in fact. McGregor was getting stuck into some crunching challenges and wasn’t afraid to head the ball when necessary either. All that despite the fact there was no way Callum would’ve been 100% comfortable even with his face mask.
It will now be interesting to see whether Ange rests Callum for the weekend trip to Motherwell. There must be a temptation to do so, but we can’t pretend that the game doesn’t hold a similar level of importance.
Much of it, you would imagine, will come down to how Callum recovers from last night. It’s all about how his face feels. But Celtic also have huge trips to Motherwell and Aberdeen coming up whilst the Europa Conference League crunch clash with Bodo/Glimt is right around the corner.
It’ll certainly be intriguing. But after getting last night out of the road, the most important thing is Callum’s recovery and making sure he feels 100% ready to go full throttle from here on in.
In other news, “A true Angeball masterclass”; Australian media react to Celtic destroying rivals at Parkhead
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