PARKHEAD SKIPPER SETTING HIS SIGHTS ON STRONG FINISH TO 2021

CELTIC captain Callum McGregor has urged his team-mates to steel themselves for a hectic festive schedule that could make or break their title aspirations.

After going toe-to toe with Bayer Leverkusen in Germany on Thursday night, Ange Postecoglou’s side are back in Premiership action against Aberdeen today and face a busy spell that will see them play every midweek until the turn of the year.

A veteran of strong winter winning sequences under Brendan Rodgers and Neil Lennon, McGregor knows the importance of accruing as many points as possible across a month that could also yield a trophy, courtesy of a Premier Sports Cup Final showdown with Hibs.

Celtic start the day four points behind defending champions Rangers, who travel to Livingston this lunchtime, and from experience McGregor, 28, knows the importance of staying in touch going into the January shutdown.

He said: ‘This is a really important period, of course. You get to the end of November, December and there are so many games. They are coming at you every three or four days.

‘This is always a part of the season that we look at and say if we can go really strong between now and the break then hopefully we will be in a good position come the turn of the year.

‘So we try to build momentum — both in terms of our performances and results.

‘You are in a cycle of play, recover for the next game and then play again. If you can get into a pattern where the team is feeling good and getting results then it can quite quickly snowball into a real bit of good momentum.’