“I’ve said it a million times, to play for Celtic is a huge honour,” Callum McGregor

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The Celtic Star

·15. März 2025

“I’ve said it a million times, to play for Celtic is a huge honour,” Callum McGregor

One more sleep folks! Tomorrow looks like being another Beautiful Sunday as a win for Celtic will take us to within two wins of securing our 13th title in 14 years…

Callum McGregor celebrates another title win for Celtic at Rugby Park, Kilmarnock in May 2024. Photo Vagelis Georgariou

That’s an astonishing achievement and Callum McGregor has been involved in so many of those title triumphs since breaking into the first time under Ronny Deila.

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The Celtic captain will be on the training ground today and will have his calf injury assessed but he’ll be more than willing to take the painkillers and play through the pain barrier in this Glasgow Derby against theRangers side who on Thursday evening booked their place in the quarter finals of the Europa League where they will play Athletic Club, our friends from the beautiful Basque city of Bilbao – Basque flags at the ready for tomorrow troops!

Athletic Club, Bilbao are coming to Glasgow.

Hopefully Callum McGregor is able to play, even if just for an hour or so, as his impact on these games is enormous. Of course his injury will be ‘tested’ early doors as he is the player that they fear most.

Here’s everything that the Celtic captain had to say in response to the media questions at Lennoxtown yesterday afternoon…

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Q: Can you bring us up to speed with your fitness Callum?

Callum McGregor: “Yeah, obviously, you will have noticed that I wasn’t there with the group today, so I’m just trying to step it up and did a wee bit of individual work with the physio guys today, and hopefully no reaction, and then hopefully I’ll be good to train tomorrow, and then if I can train tomorrow then I’ll be fit.”

Q: Is it just your calf that you’re managing?

Callum McGregor: “Yeah, it’s a calf issue, but we’ll see how we go.”

Q: It’s one of the games that you definitely don’t want to miss?

Callum McGregor: “No, exactly, I think this is why we’re giving every chance and trying to leave it as long as we can to be out on the pitch and get yourself ready. It’s been a tough week, but I’m trying to do everything I can to make sure that I’m available for the group.”

Callum McGregor playing with a mask against theRangers in February 2022, Celtic won the match 3-0. Photo Getty Images.

Q: Did you not have that a while back? Was it with the mask? Was that your first game back? Was that against (the)Rangers? Are these the types of games that you want to push through the pain barrier to make sure that you’re fit?

Callum McGregor: “Yeah, of course, I’ve said it a million times, to play for Celtic is a huge honour, and you have to put yourself in the position that many, many supporters would do. You have to play through the pain barrier and give yourself every chance to be involved in these games, because one, it means so much to the club, and two, it means a lot personally as well. You want to play in these games, and these are the games that, as football players, are the best days. When you bring all that together, you feel a huge sense of responsibility to push as hard as you possibly can to make sure that you’re available.”

Q: Were there any after-effects after that game? Was it worth it to make sure that you’re out there?

Callum McGregor: “Probably that much painkillers. I never really felt anything. Like you said, when you get a day like that, and obviously it was a night-time game, but the performance, the result, everything else goes insignificant to that. You’ve made it on the pitch and the team have won, and that’s all you can ask for. Fingers crossed that’s the same this weekend.”

Q: The adrenaline just carries you through on the occasions like that?

Callum McGregor: “Yes, that’s it. It’s such a big game, huge expectation. Like I said, the atmosphere is enough to get you through it anyway. I’ll certainly be doing everything I can. A bit of work this morning felt okay, so I’ll try and join the group tomorrow and hopefully be ready for the weekend.”

7500 Hibernian fans in Celtic Park as the away allocation is increased due to the cup tie Celtic v Hibernian, Scottish Gas Men s Scottish Cup, Quarter Final, Celtic Park, – 09 March2025. Photo Stuart Wallace Shutterstock

Q: I know there’s been a lot of talk about away fans finally back in for this game. We saw against Hibs last week the 7,000. How do you feel that changed the atmosphere? Does that whet the appetite for this weekend?

Callum McGregor: “Yes, I thought it was a brilliant atmosphere last weekend. Really, really good. Good game of football. We played to a really high level and then, like you said, more supporters being in the stadium gives that kind of atmosphere. So it was great and then obviously expecting similar this weekend as well. I think everybody’s probably looking forward to seeing how the fixture plays out and can that be the template for moving forward and maybe trying to get even more in, in both fixtures. So it’s going to be good. Everybody’s looking forward to it and the players are raring to go as well.”

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Celtic captain Callum McGregor and Danilo Pereira da Silva of Rangers during the Scottish Premiership match at Ibrox. theRangers v Celtic, photo O’Rourke/Shutterstock

Q: How is the mindset? Are you still stung a bit by what happened on 2nd January? Does that play into what you’re preparing this week?

Callum McGregor: “No, not at all. Obviously, there’s been a lot of football played since then on both sides as well. Changes to managers, etc. So we have to take the game in isolation. We have to prepare the way that we want the game to be played. Obviously, as being at home, we’ve got to try and maximise that as much as we can. And then we’ll see what (the)Rangers do when they turn up and their team comes in. We’ll see what we’re looking at there. But our preparation always stays the same. We train with a calmness and there’s a calmness going into the game. We know how we want to perform. We know what we need to do in the game to make it a success. So we try and bring all those elements together on Sunday.”

Daizen Maeda of Celtic scoring during the Scottish Gas Scottish Cup Quarter-Final match between Celtic and Hibernian at Celtic Park on March 09, 2025. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Q: You can probably see the benefit of it last week, the full week’s training, the way you flew out the traps at the start. Is that the key to starting this week as well?

Callum McGregor: “Yeah, I think these games are important. Especially the home team starting well. If you can get on top of the game, the crowd come with you and it’s an amazing atmosphere. So we’ve had a lot of good experiences at home in that type of situation and starting the game in that manner. We’ve scored a few early goals and we’ve set the tone early in the game. So you have to try and maximise all of that. Like you said, a sort of freshness about the squad last week was probably as good as we’ve been for a while. Hunger, willingness to run and freshness. Get inside the pressure, get the ball back and Hibs struggled to live with that. So if we can bring a similar level of performance, then we hope that that’s enough to give us a good day.”

Q: When this fixture comes around, you can often say how defining it could be for the title. But that’s not going to be the case this season. But that won’t deter the hunger within the squad, will it?

Callum McGregor: “No, not at all. I think coming out of the last game, we felt that as well. Of course, the points difference was roughly the same probably. Which again shows how well we’ve bounced back. We’ve got ourselves in a really strong position again. But the feeling for us after the game was we never did ourselves justice. So we feel like this time around, we’re at home, we understand what the game means. Like I said, we didn’t do ourselves justice. So we want to come off the pitch first and foremost, feeling good about what we’ve done in the game and the performance and what we’ve given to it. And generally, if we do all those things, then we’ll win the game. And that’ll put us in a much better place. But I think the starting point has to be when we come off the pitch, we don’t feel how we felt at Ibrox last time.”

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Celtic v theRangers – Callum McGregor celebrates scoring Celtic’s third Celtic goal of the game during the Scottish Premiership match at Celtic Park, Sunday September 1, 2024. Photo Steve Welsh

Q: That game aside, Callum, Celtic’s record against (the)Rangers, particularly in recent years, has been very good. Particularly at Celtic Park?

Callum McGregor: “Yeah, of course, Celtic Park has been excellent for us over a number of years now. So we’ve maximised that. The players have generally performed really, really well, especially at home in this fixture. So we have a nice bit of experience to draw on from that. But again, we have to do all the right things when it comes to Sunday. We’ve got to run and work hard and do all the things you need to do in derby games. So we take it in isolation. But of course, there’s a little bit of confidence there of what we’ve been like previously. And we have a nice template to go from. So if the players do that and they give everything, then I’m sure we’ll have a positive day.”

theRangers interim manager Barry Ferguson reacts during the Scottish Premiership match between theRangers FC and Motherwell FC at Ibrox on March 01, 2025. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Q: On the video analysis, do you see much difference in (the)Rangers under Barry Ferguson?

Callum McGregor: “Just obviously, they’ve sort of flirted with the five and the four. So who knows what they’ll go with? That’s not for me to talk about. But for us, we have to just take the game in isolation. Obviously, this is the first one that he’s been involved in, so he may change. I’ve got no idea. So it’s not really for me to comment on that. We know what we want to do in the game. We know how we want to play. And then, like I said, when we get the team in, we’ll probably know whether it’s a five or a four. And we can then slightly adapt what type of position we want to take up, depending on their shape. But like I said, our normal game plan is speed, aggression, quality with the ball. And as long as we bring that, then I think we’ll be okay.”

Q: Was today the first day you had to do individual training or have you been doing it?

Callum McGregor: “I went out a little bit yesterday as well. So we had a couple of days off at the start of the week. And then yesterday… Yeah, I was outside yesterday, aye. So just stepping there, because we’re trying to get there step by step. So like I said, I’m hoping to join the group tomorrow.”

27 August 2000: Henrik Larsson celebrates during the Scottish Premier League match against Rangers at Celtic Park. Celtic won the game 6 – 2. Photo: Stu Forster /Allsport