Callum McGregor was never going to fade into the background of Celtic's Scottish Premiership title push without a fight.

And while the 30-year-old could easily have kept himself on ice for longer in order to minimise longer-term risk, the central midfielder pushed for a phased, monitored return in order to help out his teammates at this critical juncture in the season. 

Despite being sidelined for a handful of games earlier in the year, McGregor has still managed to clock over 40 appearances across all competitions for Celtic – a figure equalled only by 25-year-old centre-back Liam Scales this year.

McGregor says that while the initial timeline for his return was quite extensive, group conversations behind the scenes led to an expedited process that was "as aggressive as possible" to ensure the midfielder's full return at this vital part of the campaign.

Here, McGregor explains how his injury return was safely expedited.

"There've been some bumps in the road, and it's been pretty sore at times but it's like anything in life, you've just got to grit your teeth and get on with it," said McGregor. "We knew it could be done in a safe way. As long as we didn't go too quick too early. It seems to be moving in the right direction.

"I had to just grit my teeth and get through it. We knew the type of injury it was and that it can be sore. But once we established no further damage could be done then we were happy to take that risk and push through."

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McGregor added: "We had to be pretty careful all the way through, to be honest. Probably only the last two weeks I’ve felt much better and freer in the movement and everything else. It’s certainly heading in the right direction which is good news.

"Of course but we knew that it was going to be a big risk but we wanted to take it. We sat as a group and thought it was important. We took that decision and crossed our fingers a little bit."