Celtic captain Callum McGregor has been backed to start for Scotland in their Euro 2024 opener versus Germany despite his current injury struggles.
McGregor, who is key for both club and country, wasn’t in Steve Clarke’s squad for the current international break. He missed the game versus the Netherlands on Friday and won’t play against Northern Ireland tonight.
For Celtic, the skipper hasn’t featured since the end of February. He is expected back post-international break, though, and Neil Lennon, who was McGregor’s boss during his second spell in charge of the club, thinks he will immediately return to the Scotland team.
The national side has two warmup games for this summer’s Euros in June against Gibraltar and Finland but things kick off against Germany in the tournament. Lennon reckons that despite missing out on the March squad, McGregor will seamlessly slot back in this summer.
He said: [PLZ Soccer] “In the opening game, Callum McGregor has to play in that game for me.”
Host Peter Martin backed up this viewpoint, predicting that the 30-year-old coming into the team will be one of a few changes for the Germany game from Friday’s: “I actually can only see one change in that team, maybe two. Maybe [Lyndon] Dykes coming in for [Lawrence] Shankland but [Ryan] Christie coming in for McGregor”, he said.
Whether it be for Celtic or Scotland, the quality of McGregor always shines through. He is a standout each time he plays for club and country.
He has uncharacteristically missed the past few weeks, but the quadruple-treble-winner faces an arduous end to the season amid a crucial title run in and hotly anticipated Euros.
