THE PAIN BARRIER
Cal was in agony last time.. now he’s ready for glory
CALLUM McGREGOR was in agony after facing rangers last time.
Now he wants Celtic to be dishing out the hurt. And as he gets set for a title-defining day, the skipper admits clinching this term’s flag would be one of his biggest achievements.
McGregor says Celtic are currently in their best shape of the season to complete the job and he, too, is approaching full tilt after his achilles injury.
It was different five weeks ago when he fought back for the last derby at Ibrox and came off the bench.
McGregor battled through but, reflecting on the differences between now compared to the previous encounter, the captain said: “Aye, I was still in agony after that game!
“Of course, we knew it was going to be a big risk but we wanted to take it. We thought it was important. We took that decision and crossed our fingers a little bit.
“I had to just grit my teeth and get through it. We knew the type of injury it was it can be sore.
“But once we established no further damage could be done, we were happy to take that risk and push through.
“We had to be pretty careful all the way. Probably only the last two weeks I’ve felt much better and freer in the movement and everything else.”
The huge ovation that greeted his 60-yard backtracking run to rob Hearts’ Kenneth Vargas seven days ago signalled his wellbeing lifted the support.
He said: “Coming back from injury and getting up to speed again, it’s a good moment to put it to bed.
“You feel good and things are moving in the right direction. Sometimes something happens in the game and you have to react.
“Your brain takes over and it’s nice to have that positive moment and try to move on and put it behind you.
“I’m moving much better now, aye. Just given the nature of the injury and timeline at the beginning, that’s why there has been a bit of confusion around it.
“The timeline was quite extensive and we had a chat that we wanted to try and be as aggressive as possible so we could get back in time for these games and the finish to the season.
“There’ve been some bumps in the road and it’s been pretty sore at times but it’s like anything in life, you’ve just got to grit your teeth and get on with it. It seems to be moving in the right direction, which is good.
“If you ask any footballer, when you get injured it’s probably the most difficult time in your career, especially coming into the business end of the season when the trophies are getting handed out.”
With his pain gone, McGregor is now looking for the hurt to be handed out to Rangers.
It’ll be the skipper’s 38th derby and he’s pivotal. Record Sport columnist and ex-Rangers skipper Barry Ferguson reckons his old team have to stop the Celtic leader dictating affairs.
But McGregor reckons his side have various ways to inflict anguish and said: “That’s the theory. if they’re concentrating on me, then someone else can go and win the game for us!
“When these types of things are being said about you, you have to take it as a compliment.
“But we have a system where, if you try to overload one player, we can hurt you in different areas.”
Victory for Celtic would move them six points clear with two games to go. Given some of the difficulties that have come his team’s way this term, it would feel huge for McGregor.
He added: “There are always different challenges and, probably for a little while, this one to-and-froed for a little bit.
“We have three games to do it and if we manage to get over the line, for sure, it will be up there with the best achievements.
“We’ve had to show a lot of resilience as a club this season. Difficult moments, being ahead, sort of throwing it away a little but wresting control back again.
“Change of manager, players leaving and coming in and these things take time.
“But the one thing we’ve always done is stick by each other and, just naturally, when you get to the business end of the season, the whole thing comes alive a little bit as well.
“We are in a good place but the only way to stay there is to continue to do the basics and when the games come along, show everything you’ve got.
“One thing we try to do early when new players come in is make them understand what football club they are at and what the expectation is. It’s important they straight away understand you have to win.
“And, when you arrive in the big moments, it has to become normal to deal with the pressure and come through the most difficult moments and be a winner. The job is success.”
We have three games to do it – it’ll be up there with the best achievements if we manage to get over the line
CALLUM McGREGOR