Stylish Taylor has cut himself a neat role for club and country
Greg Taylor is gearing up for a huge few weeks for Celtic and Scotland.
The Hoops’ left-back will go into today’s semi-final off the back of a storming display in the Old Firm derby win at Ibrox.
With the Premier Sports League Cup in the bag, plus a sixpoint lead established in the Premiership, a victory would leave the Parkhead club bang on target to capture the Treble.
And whether or not they succeed, Taylor has the World Cup Play-offs with Scotland to look forward to in June.
“It is a very exciting time,” admitted the 24-year-old.
“We are at the business end of the season, with a lot of massive games coming, one after the other.
“Scotland have now been given June 1 as a date for the Ukraine match, and hopefully we can get the game played.
“That would be the best-case scenario, though obviously the war is still going on in Ukraine. So we just have to take it day by day.
“At the moment, I am focusing on Celtic, with the semi-final another huge occasion.
“I missed the Premier semi-final against St Johnstone due to injury, but I do have very happy memories of the Final.
“Wewentagoaldown to Hibs, but managed to get ourselves back into it, got in front and lifted the trophy with Kyogo having a brilliant day of it.
“You hope for a repeat of that, but cup games are different in that you know there are no second chances.
“I would not say you look forward to them more because we love playing all the games here. But, certainly, you know you are going to need to be on it on the day.
“We won at Ibrox in the league. But this is a totally different game, and it comes down to what we do in the 90 minutes – or indeed the 120 minutes.”
However the season ends, Taylor can be happy that, viewed from an individual perspective, the 2021-22 campaign has been one in which he has come on a ton.
“I would agree with that,” he said.
“My performances have been pretty consistent this year, and I have enjoyed trying to play the way the manager wants us to play.
“He has been very helpful in terms of helping adapt to a different system, and I thank him for that.
“That has been his approach with all the boys, and we are all working hard.
“We see that if we carry out our individual roles well, it will bring us collective success.
“I am striving to learn and improve in every game, and that will continue to be my aim.”