Callum McGregor knew any Celtic fan would face Rangers with a “broken face” so decided he had to do the same.
The Celtic skipper had “no fear” in turning out in Wednesday’s derby clash at Parkhead despite fracturing his cheekbone in two places against Alloa 11 days earlier.
The masked midfielder helped his side to an impressive 3-0 victory which put them top of the cinch Premiership.
“You know the situation, but when the game starts you just go into that mode where you don’t have any fear,” he said.
“The atmosphere, the adrenaline, everything is going and you just want to help the team.
“I spoke before the game that I just wanted to do everything I could to get myself on the pitch and help the team, and do that for the supporters.
“I know that every single one of them would play with a broken face if they had to, so why am I any different?
“You take injuries in football, that’s what happens, but it was clear at the start of the week that I had half a chance and that’s all I needed to make the game.
“I’ve got the mask that gives it the protection that it needs, so we’ll just let it heal and keep taking it day by day.”
The Scotland international had been concerned that he was facing a lengthy lay-off.
“When I came off I was in a bad place,” he said. “It’s credit to the medical team, they got me seen pretty quickly and then it was just a case of waiting on it settling down.
“There was a lot of swelling obviously, you’ll have seen the pictures and everything else, but I’ve just been trying to rest up as much as possible and do the right things.
“My family have supported me really well, and when I had half a chance to play in the game, I was more than happy to do that.
“The mask gives me the protection that it needs, so as long as it’s not sore then I’m happy to play.”
McGregor’s experience helped Celtic deliver arguably their best performance under Ange Postecoglou during a rampant first half when they scored through Reo Hatate, twice, and Liel Abada and forced Allan McGregor into a series of saves.
It was an emphatic way to end a seven-match run without victory over Rangers stretching back to December 2019 and including six defeats.
“We spoke about it at the start of the week, what this game means to this club and what this game means to the supporters,” the 28-year-old said.
“It’s been a while since we won one, so it’s good to get that out of the way.
“I think we know we have that type of performance in us. We’ve been dominating games pretty much since the start of the season.
“Over the last little period we’ve probably not been as ruthless in terms of taking our chances, and even if you think back to previous games as well, we’ve done a lot of good work but just not been putting the ball in the back of the net.
“We knew that if we could get an early goal then the momentum changes in the game, the crowd get involved and the whole thing can snowball from there.
“That’s the way that it panned out, the way we wanted to take the game to them.”
McGregor’s experience will also help the squad after the game with a tricky match away to Motherwell coming on Sunday.
He said: “You have to enjoy these nights, that’s why we play football, that’s why we play for this club, because there’s a demand on us to win these games.
“When that happens, you have to enjoy it of course, soak up the atmosphere and then bottle it and use it for later experiences.
“It’s so important we don’t get carried away. We’ve still got a long way to go in the league and even as a team we’re still growing, we’re still getting better.
“There’s a lot of development in this team, but we have to make sure we stay humble and keep working hard to achieve that.”
