McGREGOR KNOWS CELTIC MUST HIT THEIR STRIDE AGAINST ROSENBORG

Poised for their fifth meeting with Rosenborg in less than 14 months, McGregor is aware Celtic need to hit their stride

THERE’S a joke doing the rounds at the moment about three Celtic fans ambling around Trondheim in late November and walking into a bar.

As the trio peruse the gantry for a warming tipple of their choice, the barman spots them and interjects: ‘Afternoon, gentlemen. The usual, I take it?’

Given the prohibitive price of a night on the tiles in Norway, few Celtic fans are laughing at the prospect of returning there at a time when the fjords are in danger of freezing over.

They were only there in August and 12 months previously in the Champions League. This season alone, they will face the Norwegian league leaders more often than a bottom-six Premiership side.

This rematch in the Europa League, just seven weeks after last going eye-to-eye, is certainly a strange quirk of the recent revamp of UEFA’s competitions.

With more parachutes into the secondary tournament these days than you’d find in an SAS mess room, you might have thought the mandarins in Switzerland would have taken aversive action. But apparently not.

The question for Brendan Rodgers and his players is: Will such familiarity breed contempt or contentment?

The concerns for the Scottish champions in this regard are two-fold: Two months ago, Rosenborg were in the middle of their summer recess having lost two of their previous five matches.

They arrive in Glasgow tomorrow on the back of four straight wins, the last of which came against Ronny Deila’s Valerenga. All the talk of chaos that surrounded the appointment of Rini Coolen after the dismissal of the popular Kare Ingebrigtsen is no longer.

Furthermore, although Celtic enter this latest joust with the luxury of being well into their domestic season, it’s been an unconvincing start. Just five goals have been scored in as many league matches as they view a league table which sees them trail Hearts by five points.

For all that, there is no question of Celtic taking the field on Thursday nursing an inferiority complex. Bluntly, Rosenborg are a good but hardly a great side in the context of others who have graced the old place in recent times.

If Brendan Rodgers’ side are to entertain hopes of making it out of a group also including RB Leipzig and Red Bull Salzburg, there can be no outcome other than victory.

‘It’s foot to the floor at this stage of the season,’ said midfielder Callum McGregor.

‘There are seven games between this international break and the next one and they’re all important ones in different competitions.

‘We’ve got to be right at it all the time from now on. We’ve had this for the last three seasons now so we’re getting used to it in terms of being ready fitness-wise and getting our preparation right for each match.

‘There are cup ties, European matches and crucial games in the league, so you’ve just got to take that in your stride and keep churning out performances.’

A profound disappointment at exiting the Champions League to a nomore-than-decent AEK Athens side took some time to lift.

In the cold light of day, though, being pitched into a group that gives their side a reasonable chance of success is significant consolation for most supporters. There is no harm in aspiring to sit beside the likes of PSG and Barcelona in the premier competition each year. Increasingly, though, the Europa feels like Celtic’s natural habitat. ‘It’s a tough section,’ McGregor opined. ‘You think of the Champions League as being a level above but when you see some of the teams who are in this tournament then there’s no shortage of quality. ‘The standard is high. Rangers have a difficult draw as well, but we’re looking to do something this season and this will be a good test for us.’

Rosenborg, specifically, has been one which Rodgers’ men have passed with flying colours twice in the past 13 months.

James Forrest’s goal in Trondheim a year ago was all it took to separate the sides over two legs.

This season, the Scots overcame the loss of an early goal in Glasgow to run out 3-1 winners — a lead they would protect admirably a week later in Norway.

The subsequent loss in Athens went against the grain. By and large under Rodgers, Celtic have risen to the big occasions.

‘There was obviously a bit of disappointment after going out of the Champions League but we made sure that we qualified for the Europa League and that was a big thing for us,’ McGregor added.

‘But the Rangers match was crucial as well. We felt that we had to put down a marker and let people know that we’re still here and we’re not going to go away.

‘The performance on the day was excellent and if Allan McGregor hadn’t pulled off a string of excellent saves then we’d have beaten them by three or four goals again. It’s good for us to know that we’ve still got that in our locker.’

Celtic’s indifferent start on the field has been reflective of a summer of disappointment and confusion off it.

Without question, the departures of Stuart Armstrong and Moussa Dembele, together with the failure to land John McGinn, leaves the squad weaker now than when the window opened.

As ever in such circumstances, there will always be beneficiaries. The recent name-check Rodgers gave Ryan Christie (left), as he looked to focus on players he does have at his disposal, will have been music to the man from Inverness’ ears. Now 23 and into the final year of his contract, long-standing questions about the player’s suitability to his parent club, after two lengthy loan spells at Aberdeen, will soon be answered.

‘Ryan has fantastic ability and you’ve seen the tremendous impact he’s made when he’s come off the bench in our last couple of games,’ McGregor said.

‘The manager likes him as well. Ryan has all the skill in the world, he’s a good kid and he works really hard at training every single day. I don’t see any reason why he can’t do well for us.

‘It’s sometimes just about being patient, waiting for your chance and then taking it. Our squad has been really strong in the last few years and Ryan was probably just outside that, but, whenever he did train or play with us, he was still at a really high level.

‘He was just unfortunate that guys like Moussa were doing so well but with the big man gone, I’m sure he’ll take full advantage of that now.’