Celtic head to Ibrox to face Rangers in the New Year Glasgow Derby with a massive 14-point advantage at the top of the Scottish Premiership.
All the pressure is on the hosts not to lose the game so Celtic could be forgiven for being relaxed heading to Ibrox for the Glasgow Derby and looking to leave with a simple target of just not losing the game.
Not so, says skipper, Callum McGregor. In fact, the Celtic legend has a plan to go to Ibrox and take advantage of the fact the Hoops have the strongest squad and win the game to put the Hoops 17 points ahead of Rangers at the top of the Scottish Premiership table at the halfway stage.
Callum McGregor states the ‘most important’ thing Celtic must do vs Rangers
McGregor told STV, “Generally, the way that we want to play is the same every week and just adding layers all the time.
“So, we’ll look at the game and see where we can be better, see where we can maybe exploit that sort of mid-pitch block from Rangers and see the combinations that we need to get through that bit of the pitch and try and cause some problems.
The main objective is that we try and play well every week. You’re not going to reach that level all the time. But especially in cup finals, the most important thing is to come through it and win.
“And then you can always tidy up the little details and always be better when you arrive into the next game, which I think we’ve done well since that game.”
Callum McGregor says Celtic want to ‘impose’ themselves on Rangers
“We’re sort of back to playing a wee bit quicker and aggressive runs and everything that makes us good. We’re sort of back there as well.
So, I feel the team’s in a good way and a good rhythm. So, hopefully, we’ll go there. And yeah, obviously, we want to perform better than what we did in the cup final.
“But we want to go there and impose ourselves on the game and ultimately try and win the game.”
Celtic’s record against Rangers under Brendan Rodgers is almost flawless as the Hoops’ boss looks to go and collect his 17th win out of 21 against the Ibrox club later today.
With Celtic’s fixture schedule in January jam-packed with eight games in four weeks, the more leeway Rodgers has at the top of the table will help the Parkhead gaffer to concentrate on progressing in the Champions League.
If he can do that and continue his relentless charge towards a possible treble, Rodgers will have regained his hero status amongst the vast majority of the Celtic support.
