Callum McGregor's hard working persona and contribution hasn't gone unnoticed.

McGregor, 30, missed several key games throughout March due to injury but made a welcome return from the substitutes bench during Celtic's 3-3 league draw with Rangers on Sunday. 

His reintroduction at this stage of the season is proving timely for both club and country, with former Hoops teammate and Scotland internationalist, Kieran Tierney,  reckoning McGregor remaining fit could be crucial to the national team being successful at Euro 2024 this summer.

During an interview with talkSPORT, the left-back was asked if Scotland still rely on key players, and he replied: “I think we do. I think we need the top players who are performing week-in, week-out at the top level like Callum McGregor. 

"He’s always there. He’s one of the best players that I’ve ever played with and I think some of the work he can do goes unnoticed, and it’s not until he’s out of the team that you notice how much you need him.

"And Andy Robertson, one of the best left-backs in the world for the last however many years. John McGinn is flying in the Prem and when he pulls on a Scotland jersey, he's different class as well. 

"So, we need players like that. The last few years has showed the depth of the squad, so I think it's a collective. We need everyone to be there and available." 

READ MORE: Oasis singer provides Scottish Premiership title prediction

Rating Scotland's chances at the tournament, Tierney was modest in his assessment and insisted all three opponents; Germany, Hungary and Switzerland, will provide a tough test. But vowed to give the Tartan Army a summer to remember. 

"I think it will be tough," he declared. "I don't know what everyone else is thinking but the other two teams apart from Germany are really, really strong as well. Knowing Switzerland quite a bit from Granit Xhaka and knowing their results and the tournaments that they've qualified for and how far they've got, it's going to be hard. 

"We are probably still the underdogs, although we qualified last time, we've not been on the best form recently. We've not won a game in a few so I think we will be going into it as underdogs but I think it might suit us to an extent. 

READ MORE: 'You never know' says Tierney as he rates Celtic return chances

"But we need to go try and better what we done at the last Euros, that's for sure. We need to go and give everything. 

"We can't use it as an excuse like it was our first time we were there, we are more experienced, there's a lot of the same boys so we will be a lot older and we've played in a lot of big games as well since then. 

"So, we need to go and give it a right go, for sure."