Having experienced a frustrating start to the 2022/23 campaign, missing much of pre-season and then a couple of months of the season, Carl Starfelt welcomed the recent break in action for the World Cup.

It meant that the Swedish defender was able use the time as his own pre-season in order to get back up to speed with his team-mates.

He had played three games before the break, and has played in all three games since the resumption of the domestic season, and the 27-year-old is now looking to push on and play his part in the second half of the campaign.

The next test for Celtic is a trip to Easter Road to take on Hibernian (Wednesday), and it’s a game that Starfelt and his team-mates are looking forward to as they look to maintain their winning domestic run, which currently stands at 12 games.

Speaking ahead of the midweek clash, Starfelt said: “It was important to come back and get the results so three games and three wins, that’s what we were looking for.

“We’ve been playing well in most periods, although there are some areas where we have to improve a little bit.

“I think we have addressed that and played really well on Saturday and got a strong result, so we’re in a good place.

“Like I said, the results have been good, and we’ve had good periods in the games as well, but we cannot relax. We need to keep going in every game, work hard and be humble.

“For me, the break was very good. I was out for a very long time and it gave me the chance to get some fitness back and also some weeks of training. Now it’s just about continuing to get those games in.

“It’s always a bit different only training and then playing as well, but for me the break was good and I feel that, physically, I’m in pretty good shape but I just need to keep playing games to get to 100 per cent.

“I feel good but there’s always room for improvement. I can obviously feel even better and do even more, but I feel like I’m in a good place physically, so I just need to keep building on that.”

Starfelt: I benefitted from the break but now I'm glad to be back in action