Why this Celtic win over Rangers was sweetest for Callum McGregor

Callum McGregor has experienced plenty of victories at Ibrox in a Celtic shirt, but this one will taste that little bit sweeter.

Not only does it move Celtic six points clear in the cinch Premiership title race with six games to play, it was also McGregor’s first victory as club captain on enemy soil.

The skipper showed why he was handed the armband by Ange Postecoglou last summer on the back of Scott Brown’s departure. Rangers’ fast start, which included Aaron Ramsay’s early opener, had the home fans rocking and Celtic on the ropes. Players like Reo Hatate looked startled in their first appearance at Ibrox. It called for a cool head and someone to drive Celtic back into the match. That’s exactly what McGregor offered. His surging run into the Rangers penalty box played a part in Tom Rogic’s equaliser, and he then helped his team regain control.

“There is obviously the chaos that is going on and we tried to rely on our team shape to get us through that,” said McGregor. “I think the most important thing was to rely on the principles of the team when there are difficult moments. We understand our roles and what the manager wants and we have to go and deliver it. It was good to get through that first little phase of the game and then get ourselves level and we had a bit more comfort in the game. In the second half we had real good resilience to get through it.

“It was a huge effort. To go a goal down so early in the game but then recover. We got ourselves level and then to go in 2-1 at half-time was superb and probably just what we needed in the game. That gave us the impetus to come out in the second half and be strong, be compact. You are always going to come under pressure when you come here so it was a huge effort and