CALLUM McGREGOR eased back into action for his first game in over two months as Celtic lost 4-3 to Rennes in their closed-door friendly in Portugal today.
The scoreline is an irrelevance, of course, with the main objective to get some rust out of the players’ limbs courtesy of the World Cup Finals interruption before they turn their attention to the real thing against Aberdeen at Pittodrie a week today which has a 12.30pm kick-off.
Ange Postecoglou will face the Dons without his Qatar contingent Cameron Carter-Vickers, Aaron Mooy and Daizen Maeda while Josip Juranovic and Croatia are only 90 minutes away from the soccer showpiece’s grand finale a week tomorrow – if, of course, the Hoops defender and Co overcome Lionel Messi and Argentina on Tuesday.
CALM DOWN…Matt O’Riley turned goalscorer with a double in the behind-closed-doors game in Portugal.
McGregor lasted 78 minutes before being replaced by teenager Rocco Vata and it did look to have suffered any reaction to the knee injury that saw him removed before half-time from the Champions League meeting with RB Leipzig on October 5.
The Ligue 1 side appeared better prepared for the bounce game and raced into a 4-1 lead before the Hoops pulled two back before the interval.
Matt O’Riley claimed a double and Kyogo Furuhashi was the other marksman.
Points will replace pride in the north east in a week’s time when the real Celts hope to pick up where they left off in the league campaign following eight successive wins.
