There was something vaguely familiar about Callum McGregor’s goal as he put Celtic 2-0 up away to Hibs.
Given a few yards of space as Celtic pressed Hibs back the skipper took a few purposeful steps forward then rattled an incredible shot that flew past Josef Bursik into the net.
It was met with silence from three sides of Easter Road with a distant roar behind Kasper Schmeichel to greet an early two goal lead at a ground that has caused problems in the past.
Back in August 2001 there was a similar goal to enjoy, one of many from the legend that is Lubo Moravcik, perfectly at home in the finest Celtic side of this century with Chris Sutton and Henrik Larsson the other scorers in that 4-1 victory.
Lubo’s goal was from more of an angle but the net result was the same, a moment of genius that will be remembered long after the dust has settled.
Who did it better? Lubo or Calmac? pic.twitter.com/KJ6bipN2bG
— Declan Tim 💚🍀 (@tim_declan) August 11, 2024
Sunday’s goal was the first from McGregor as a former internationalist, on Friday he announced that the European Championships was the end of the road for his Scotland career.
With international breaks in September, October and November the 31-year-old will get the rest that he has been denied over the last eight years as one season blends into another.
While marvelling at the consistently high standards and the endurability of the midfielder there was always a fear that at some stage things would catch up on McGregor.
There was a serious scare last season with an Achilles injury, in his usual fashion the club captain cut his rehab time from 12 weeks down to just five.
He wasn’t quite at his best straightaway but his influence was obvious, after three matches back the old McGregor re-emerged away to Dundee as the business end of the season came into focus
Celtic have three more matches before the first international break, between September 1 and 14 the club captain can take a breather, recharge the batteries and come back stronger than ever with more performances like his Easter Road masterclass to enjoy.
RELATED READING
