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Attendance: 49,844
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Scottish Premiership | Gameweek 4
May 12, 2019 at 12pm UK
 
Celtic logo

2-0

Tavernier (2'), Arfield (63')
FT(HT: 1-0)

Callum McGregor: 'Rangers don't need to give us guard of honour'

Callum McGregor: 'Rangers don't need to give us guard of honour'
© Reuters
The midfielder insists nobody at Celtic has given any thought to whether Rangers will stand on ceremony at Ibrox.

Callum McGregor insists Celtic do not need their latest Ladbrokes Premiership title win validated by a guard of honour from Rangers at Ibrox on Sunday.

The Hoops clinched their eighth successive title with a 3-0 victory at Aberdeen last week and remain on course for an unprecedented domestic triple treble amid their current dominance of Scottish football.

Much debate had taken place around the idea of Neil Lennon's side being applauded on to the field by Gers players ahead of the final Old Firm game of the season, before Rangers boss Steven Gerrard confirmed that would not be the case.

Gerrard said at his pre-match media conference: "The club have made a decision on that and decided there won't be a guard of honour, so my thoughts are irrelevant."

Scotland midfielder McGregor insists it is not a hot topic in the Celtic changing room.

The 25-year-old said: "I know it is a talking point but nobody has spoken about it. Whatever they decide to do is fine.

"We will get on with it. We know we deserved to be champions and that's enough for us in that dressing room.

"We don't need anyone else to pat us on the back.

"We have done the hard yards and we have become the champions again, eight in a row so for us, we are not too fussed whether they do it or don't do it.

"Come kick-off all the niceties will go out the window anyway and it will be a battle for 90 minutes, so we will be prepared for that."

Celtic travel to Govan unbeaten domestically in 2019 and are nine points ahead of their bitter rivals, who will finish second.

The Hoops' last defeat in Scotland was against Rangers at Ibrox at the end of the year when a Ryan Jack strike was the difference between the teams.

McGregor insist the Parkhead players have had a "burning" desire to make amends since then.

He said: "Obviously we have won the league and we go there as champions but we know how difficult these games are, we experienced it in December.

"When you are not quite at it you can get done.

"So we are fully prepared for the game and ready to go give a better account of ourselves than what we did.

"We never played well on the day and I think that has been burning in the players' heads since then, that when we go back there we have to do better and get a better result.

"It is nice coming off the back of being champions at the weekend but you probably couldn't get a better game, to go to Ibrox and play Rangers, so everyone is fully focused on the job."

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Steven Gerrard pictured before Rangers' Scottish Premiership clash with Celtic on March 31, 2019
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Read more about Callum McGregor Football
rhs 2.0
Today's games header
Tables header RHS
TeamPWDLFAGDPTS
Championship Group
1Celtic220085275884
2RangersRangers220078255381
3Hearts20114637963
4Kilmarnock20114438652
5St Mirren21014246-446
6Dundee20024659-1341
Relegation Group
1Hibernian21014854-642
2Aberdeen22003749-1241
3Motherwell21015053-340
4Ross County21013459-2533
5St Johnstone20022550-2531
RLivingston21012563-3821
 
First Phase
1Celtic33246380265478
2RangersRangers33243672234975
3Hearts33195946341262
4Kilmarnock33131284334951
5St Mirren33127143843-543
6Dundee331011124454-1041
7Hibernian33912124451-739
8Motherwell33813124651-537
9Aberdeen33811143549-1435
10St Johnstone33710162446-2231
11Ross County3379173256-2430
RLivingston3339212259-3718


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