WHEN Callum McGregor crashed to the turf following a horror collision with Alloa’s Adam King a couple of weeks back, it wasn’t only his manager, teammates and watching fans that feared the worst.

The player himself, groggy as he was after taking an almighty thwack to the side of his face, immediately thought he may be out of action for months.

Ange Postecoglou’s grim assessment of McGregor’s condition after that match at the Indodrill Stadium did little to raise hopes of a speedy recovery, and you would have got long odds on the Celtic captain leading his team out against Rangers just 11 days later.

With the aid of a protective facemask to shield his fractured cheekbone though, he managed it, and what’s more, he turned in a typically all-action performance as he harried his opponents off the ball and conducted proceedings when Celtic were in possession.

The road to that glory night for McGregor though was far from a smooth one, and he admits there were some dark moments as he came to terms with what had happened to him.

“When I came off I was in a bad place,” McGregor 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 [against Rangers], I was more than happy to do that. I’m just happy we managed to get the win.

“There’s a break in two places. We just need to let it heal and take its course.

“The mask gives me the protection that it needs, so as long as it's not sore then I’m happy to play.”

What makes McGregor’s performance against Rangers all the more startling is that he hasn’t been able to follow a regimen of sleeping and eating befitting an elite athlete since the incident at Alloa.

“Pretty much, aye, since the start of the recovery process,” he said.

“It was all soft food and everything else until we spoke to the specialist and got their opinion.

“After we spoke to him I felt a bit better, and then I’ve just been getting better every day. So, thanks to the club for trying to look after me as best as possible.

“It’s been pretty sore. 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.

“It’s a kind of strange one, but I’m hoping it will be [healed] pretty soon.

“I don’t want to give a date on it because I’m not really sure, but certainly from where I was 48 to 72 hours [before the Rangers game], I’m in a much, much better place.

“I just need to keep looking after it and hopefully it heals itself.”

As impressive as McGregor’s showing was, he is more than happy to concede that he wasn’t the star of the show for Celtic as they simply swept Rangers aside in that blistering first-half on Wednesday night.

Reo Hatate and the other Japanese imports have been a revelation since their arrival at the club, and McGregor revealed he has been looking into learning a little of their language in order to make them feel at home in the pre-match huddle.

“I’m trying, I think we’re going to bring the translator in at one point!” he said.

“I don’t think they’ll have much chance of understanding my Glaswegian accent right enough.

“But the boys have been excellent actually. They’ve come in and adapted really well to the culture, and they are great lads as well. So, they deserve all the success they get.

“They’ve been brilliant. You talk about that word humble, they are really humble, they want to be here and they want to work hard for the team.

“You see that, every single player tonight ran their socks off for the team, and that’s what you need to be successful. You have to give it everything. Talent alone isn’t enough.

“You need to be able to run and work hard for the team and do what the manager is asking of you.

“Certainly, these boys have come in and given it absolutely everything, and you see the quality they have with Reo’s two goals.”

It is little wonder then that the Celtic fans are getting carried away. The Celtic captain is delighted for them to do so, but he knows that he and the rest of the players must keep their feet on the ground, with a trip to Motherwell looming on the horizon this Sunday.

“That’s now our next focus, recover on Thursday, train Friday and Saturday and go again on Sunday,” he said.

“That’s what this club is all about. You play well on the Wednesday night and then you have to play well on the Sunday.

“That’s the demands that everybody puts on you, that’s the demands we put on each other as players, and certainly the manager puts that on us as well.

“So, that is the full focus, we have to go to Fir Park now on Sunday and win.”