Callum McGregor hailed the physical gains he and his team-mates have made during the club’s pre-season training camp in England and Wales, following last night’s dominant draw with English Championship outfit Bristol City.

The captain was outstanding from start to finish at the Robins High Performance Centre – Bristol’s new training facility – and reserved special praise for Celtic’s fledgling stars who he believes are determined to prove a point.

“It’s been a valuable week for us, we had a lot of younger guys down with us, you’re seeing a lot of them on the pitch tonight and they’re giving everything, trying to get to the level,” said McGregor after the match.

‘We were really positive, we were doing the things that the manager has asked us to do.’

“I think Dane was outstanding when he came on, Monty did well again, young Moff getting another runout, so for the young kids it’s brilliant – they just need to keep doing it, keep sticking with it and trying to get better every day and keep trying to push the squad because of the numbers and where we’re at, there’s chances for them.

“I thought the match was really good. In the first half, I thought we controlled the game.

“We were really positive, we were doing the things that the manager has asked us to do, we had loads of rotation, we were always trying to find the spare man, we had a little bit of problem solving on the pitch and we were trying to take the ball forward through the thirds of the pitch.

“Bristol were our box once in the first half, I think, so it’s just about trying to do all of those things, trying to get better at them. The only negative from that tonight really, is losing a couple of boys to injury.”

To this end, McGregor said he and the squad will now take stock ahead of their first pre-season match at Paradise – this Saturday, against Preston North End, with 2,000 fans in the stadium.

Needless to say, McGregor can’t wait:

Callum McGregor highlights key positives of pre-season camp