Opinion: Celtic star will be delighted as 64-game campaign finally ends

Callum McGregor has once more played a lot of football in season 2021/22. The Celtic skipper’s season has finally come to an end though, after featuring for Scotland in the Nations League tie against Armenia on Tuesday night.

That was the player’s 64th game of the season, and he will be happy to have marked his 29th birthday win a win.

It shows how important he is to Scotland that he McGregor has been in the starting line-up for the four games that Steve Clarke’s team have played since the domestic season ended, and he also managed to find the back of the net against Ukraine.

McGregor might be Celtic’s iron man, who is used to playing a lot of fixtures every season, but he will surely be delighted to have a rest for a few weeks before the Hoops return to pre-season training.

McGregor will be back later than some of his teammates who didn’t have any international games after Celtic’s season ended, and the player should be used sparingly when the Hoops play their pre-season games.

Next season might well prove to be McGregor’s toughest as a Celtic player, as he will be captaining the side not only in an attempt to retain the Premiership title, but also in the Champions League group stages for the first time as Celtic skipper. McGregor has played and indeed scored in the Champions League group stages before – against Bayern Munich – but he didn’t have the added responsibility of being Celtic captain then.  Still, it is surely a challenge that he is looking forward to.

When he looks back on this season overall, it will surely have to be considered as one of the best of McGregor’s career. He took over a Celtic side which was at a low ebb going into season 2021/22 and led the side to a triumphant league title.

He also looks to