As a back-up plan Celtic’s controversial trip to Australia in November his isn’t too bad as far as Callum McGregor is concerned but the Hoops skipper has admitted that he’d much rather by heading to the World Cup Finals in Qatar with Scotland.
This international break was supposed to see Scotland take on Ukraine but the Russian invasion has resulted in that match being postponed until June – a case of kicking the can down the road more than anything else – and instead Scotland will play friendlies against Poland on Thursday night and then the losers of the Wales v Austria play-off.
So we’ll have to wait until the end of the domestic season before we know whether Scotland will be heading to the World Cup and there’s also doubt surrounding the Sydney Cup match in November against theRangers amid ongoing anger among their support, presumably as Celtic have a much bigger financial benefit as the star attractions Down Under.
So yesterday McGregor gave his support to the Sydney shenanigans but admitted he’d personally rather not be there! “Hopefully with the games that come around, when they come, we’re successful and we reach the World Cup. To go and represent your country on the biggest stage would just be an amazing achievement for any young Scottish player. There wouldn’t be a better feeling than that,” the Celtic captain told the media as reported by Scottish Sun.
“At the same time, though, Celtic have the trip to Sydney, and for the club it’s also a great opportunity. It’s a way for us to maximise our commercial appeal, and it will be great for the manager and guys like Tom Rogic who have a huge fanbase in Australia.
So that’s a really exciting prospect for Celtic too. Wherever I am come November and December, then I will certainly be looking forward to either one.”
Before that McGregor knows that there’s plenty to get excited about as his first season as Celtic captain reaches the business end with three looming fixtures against theRangers – starting with the first match back at Ibrox on 3 April. A win that day for Celtic would take the defence of the title out of the hands of theRangers who would be left looking for favours elsewhere and would also need to come to Celtic Park and win. A tall order that one, and Celtic winning on 3 April will unleash the glorious side-show of their toys being well and truly thrown from prams everywhere. McGregor calls this “the good stuff” and he’s so right. Bring it on!
Celtic incidentally were yesterday handed an allocation of 700 tickets for Ibrox – having proposed to theRangers that 2500 as per their European allocations was more appropriate. It’s not clear whether Celtic will keep these tickets and thereafter offer theRangers the same number of the forthcoming match at Celtic Park or return then as insufficient and unsatisfactory and keep Paradise Zombie free just like that wonderful night at the start of last month.
McGregor’s legs sow no sign of tiring despite having played over 50 games per season for the last eight seasons – that’s a remarkable amount of football played by the current Celtic captain. “It’s a lot of games, but that’s just part of playing football now. If you want to do well in these competitions then you have to play every three or four days.
“Teams are used to it now, they are in European competitions pretty much every season. Players are used to playing 60-plus games a season. If you want to be a top footballer then you want to be involved in these things.You want to go to tournaments at the end of the season, and play in as many European games as you can because it makes you a better player.
“I don’t see it as a problem at all. I can’t speak for (the)Rangers, but from our experience of European games it just tests you and makes you a better player. Then when you come back to the domestic stuff, that’s where you try and show it.”
Callum was also asked about his recovery from the cheekbone injury incurred during that brutal Scottish Cup encounter with Alloa Athletic in January which has left him playing with a face-mask on since that 3-0 win against theRangers at Celtic Park. When will be be able to play without the face covering?
“There’s no word yet, I’m just trying to take it one day at a time. It’s been eight weeks now and it feels much better than it did previously. I’ll just see how I go and get to a point where I don’t need it — then probably the first game I take it off someone will bang me in the jaw. That’s sod’s law!
“Wearing it’s been all right. It’s contoured to my face so the eye bits pretty much sit perfect, which takes out that peripheral vision problem. “I can’t see the sides of the mask when it’s on. I was a bit worried about that to begin with, but I trained with it for a couple of days to see how it was and it was absolutely fine.”
