Skipper looking for more of the same in 2025 kick-off

As the final hours of 2024 melt away, Celtic can look back on a fantastic 12 months for the club with a batch of milestones passed and everyone in green and white looking forward to what 2025 will bring.

The nitty gritty starts, of course on Thursday, January 2 with a visit to Ibrox to whet the appetite for the coming year, and Celtic skipper, Callum McGregor, is obviously aiming for he and his team-mates to carry on the with the progress they have made under Brendan Rodgers.

The skipper said of their approach to 2025 that starts with the game against Rangers: “It’s just continuation of how we want to work.

“Since the manager’s come back in it’s been progress week on week, and that’s all we can try to do.

“And, like I say, every day is an opportunity to get better, so we’ve had a really successful 2024, and I think we can have a really successful 2025, and obviously that starts on the second.”

He added: “It’s just hard work, relentlessness in the mind-set in the way that we want to play and the way that we want to train and behave around the building, so it’s a combination of everything you do daily.

“And when you go away from here, you look after yourself, you come back in and you train the next day, so it’s a real collective effort from everybody at the club and everybody is pushing each other to try to get the maximum we can.

“So, it’s just more of the same. That’s the way we like to work, we’ve got a really good system going here, a really good process and we just stick to it and keep going.”

Of course, a visit to Ibrox means no Celtic fans in attendance, and the skipper is aware of the boost a fast start can give the Celts.

He said: “It’s always important that we want to start the game fast anyway regardless of whether that’s home or away, but in terms of not having any supporters, it’s important that start the game well and try to turn the atmosphere in our favour, which we always try to do anyway.”

This is the first derby since the Celts lifted the League Cup after defeating the Ibrox side on penalties despite not being at their electrifying best on the day.

McGregor said: “The main objective is that we try to play well every week, you’re not going to reach that level all the time, but, especially in cup finals, the most important thing it 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, back to being a wee bit quicker with aggressive runs and everything that makes us good.

“We’re back there as well, so I feel the team is in a good way and a good rhythm. So hopefully we go there and, obviously we want to perform better than we did in the cup final, but we want to go there and impose ourselves on the game, and ultimately try to win the game.”

Watch the full interview to hear Callum McGregor on:

• Benefit of being rested for the St Johnstone match

• Celtic’s strong midfield

• The League Cup final

• The points’ gap at the top of the table

• The desire to keep winning

• Scoring in the derby

MATCH CENTRE

• Follow the build-up and all the derby match action live on the official Celtic FC Match Centre.

Fixtures

Rangers Vs. Celtic - Thu, Jan 2nd 2025, 15:00