Callum McGregor confident Celtic can learn lessons from draw with Aberdeen

Celtic captain Callum McGregor echoed his manager’s comments that Aberdeen’s resurgence is good for Scottish football but the midfielder believes they can learn lessons from their recent draw against the Dons.

The recently-retired Scotland international can see the bigger picture for the national game but he is also focused on what Brendan Rodgers’ side have to do to come out on top in the battle of Scotland’s two unbeaten teams.

Aberdeen added to the hype around Jimmy Thelin’s start to life as Dons manager when they beat Rangers on Wednesday to keep pace with William Hill Premiership leaders Celtic and move nine points above the Light Blues.

McGregor welcomed the rivalry with Aberdeen ahead of Saturday’s Premier Sports Cup semi-final at Hampden.

“I think as many teams as we can get doing well in Scotland then it ultimately gives us a better product,” the 31-year-old said.”It gives people a better product to watch and it’s more competition for the team.

“We want everybody to be strong and fighting against each other and then hopefully we can come out on top. But Aberdeen will have the same intention as well.”

McGregor has not been surprised to see Thelin’s side maintain their early-season form.

“When you watch them, they’re really well organised, they’ve got a really good idea of what they’re trying to do and then what the wins do is they just gather belief and as soon as that happens then momentum can be such a big thing in football.

“They’ve obviously done a lot of good work over the summer and they’ve carried that into the games and you speak about that snowball effect.

“They are where they are and they deserve to be there. So we have to treat everyone with the utmost respect and bring our level to the game.

“Their whole game is really impressive. They’re together when they defend, there’s not many spaces there, and then they carry a threat on the transition as well. They’ve got speed in their team, they’ve got good physicality in the team.

“So I’ve been really impressed by them and this will be another tough game for sure.”

Aberdeen fought back from two goals down to draw 2-2 at Celtic Park two weeks ago and McGregor knows they cannot allow a repeat of the period after the break when the Dons responded.

McGregor said: “On the day again they showed their quality, they showed their resilience and that clinical edge that’s given them such a good start. So we’re under no illusion that it will be a tough game.

“We have to bring our level and match their intensity and how hard they want to work. We have to work equally as hard. The prize is the same for both teams and we’ll both be desperate to get there.

“We have to be on it from start to finish and and when there’s a sort of lull in the game or the the momentum of the game changes, that’s where they capitalised on that moment in the game. So it’s about us trying not to create that momentum shift in the game.

“We want to start the game and be aggressive, and be the aggressor in the game. You have got to be concentrated and together for the whole 90 minutes, or else the momentum of the game can change and you see what happened at that point.”