THIS Celtic team may not be the Invincibles, but given their current scintillating form, they are certainly starting to feel that way. That’s according to captain Callum McGregor, who feels that Ange Postecoglou's side, in current form, could take on anyone.
McGregor will lead a team out at Pittodrie this evening that is brimming with confidence after blowing Rangers and Motherwell off the park in the last week, hitting seven goals for no reply.
While retaining a level of humility in terms of what will be required to repeat the trick against Aberdeen tonight, McGregor believes that if the Celtic players can maintain their current level of performance, there aren’t many teams out there who could live with them.
“We’ve had a good wee run there in terms of performances and results, but that just comes with hard work as well and not getting too far ahead of ourselves,” McGregor said.
“We’re going to a tough venue. The manager will demand we play our football and reach the potential that we can reach as we’ve shown in the last few games.
“If we do that and do all the right things, we work hard for each other and do the basics properly, we know that within the structure he gives us the freedom to go and play.
“We can go and take that level of football to anyone. We need results anyway, so if we can get to that level of performance then we should expect a result as well.
“That doesn’t always happen, but it gives you a great platform to do that.”
The last time that Celtic travelled to Pittodrie, they did so in a state of flux, and in the midst of one of their worst runs of away form in living memory.
Not only had they lost their opening three away games of the Premiership season to Hearts, Rangers and Livingston respectively, but they hadn’t won a league match away from Celtic Park since February.
A late goal from Jota on that day in early October gave Postecoglou’s men a crucial 2-1 win, and they haven’t looked back. They haven’t lost a domestic game at any venue since, and have now won nine out of their last 10 away matches in the league, drawing the other at St Mirren.
McGregor feels that the scrappy win at Pittodrie in the autumn was the catalyst for much of what we are now seeing from Celtic, saying the belief they took from that victory may well prove it to be a pivotal moment in the season.
“Yeah I think so,” he said. “It was a new group of players coming together, we had gone to Hearts and Rangers at that point and we had lost. The pressure is then building a little bit.
“To get that win gave us big confidence to know that we can go to these difficult places and play our football, but also get results, which is important obviously.
“That gave us the platform to push on, and we really did push on after that. We went on a really good run and now we’re in a good place.
“It’s just important to keep that going. When you go to these places you need to fight and do all the dirty work, and then you play your football and hopefully your quality will come through to win the game. We’ll try to do that on Wednesday and we want the three points.
“Everybody is full of confidence. The football has been good, we’re creating lots of chances and we’ve scored some good goals as well.
“Everybody’s in good spirits and we’re obviously looking forward to the game.”
McGregor will again don his protective mask in tonight’s game to shield his fractured cheekbone, but he revealed that his recovery is going well on both a physical and psychological level.
“Yeah it’s getting there,” he said. “The mask just gives me the protection that I need.
“It’s getting better every day, it’s getting stronger, so hopefully that continues to happen.
“The swelling is coming down every day as well, so I’m feeling back to my old self and it’s just about getting comfortable with the mask until I don’t really need it.
"Here’s hoping that will be pretty soon.”
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