Callum McGregor insists there is no fan of Celtic who wouldn’t play with a broken face.
But the skipper has lifted the lid on the astounding recovery which saw him lead the way against Rangers and join his team again in their title tilt.
McGregor has revealed that he has two fractures in a cheekbone.
The captain sustained the injury at Alloa just 11 days before the derby triumph and says he was having to eat soft foods through the initial pain.
However, despite the pain and discomfort, McGregor refused to sit it out.
He donned a protective mask to lead from the front and was superb in the 3-0 win.
He refuses to accept any sort of hero status, though, as he said: “I know that every single one of them (the fans) would play with a broken face if they had to, so why am I any different?
“You know the situation, but when the game starts you just go into that mode where you don’t have any fear.
“The atmosphere, the adrenaline, everything is going and you just want to help the team.
“I just wanted to do everything that I could to get myself on the pitch and help the team and do that for the supporters.
“There’s a break in two places. We just need to let it heal and take its course. It’s been pretty sore.
“You take injuries in football, that’s what happens, but it was clear at the start of the week that I had half a chance, and that was all I needed to make the game.
“I’ve got the mask that gives it the protection it needs, so we’ll just let it heal and keep taking it day by day.
“As long as it’s not sore, then I’m happy to play.”
Asked if the injury has affected eating and sleeping, he continued: “Pretty much, aye, since the start of the recovery process.
“It was all soft food and everything else until we spoke to the specialist and got their opinion.
“After we spoke to him, I felt a bit better and then I’ve just been getting better every day.
“So, thanks to the club for trying to look after me as best as possible.
“When I came off [at Alloa], I was in a bad place.
“The medical team got me seen pretty quickly and then it was just a case of waiting on it settling down.
“There was a lot of swelling obviously – you’ll have seen the pictures and everything else – but I’ve just been trying to rest up as much as possible and do the right things.
“My family has supported me really well, and when I had half a chance to play in the game, I was more than happy to do that. I’m just happy we managed to get the win.”
McGregor has no idea when his injuries will fully heal and added: “It’s a kind of strange one, but I’m hoping it will be pretty soon.
“I don’t want to give a date on it because I’m not really sure, but certainly from where I was 48 to 72 hours ago, I’m in a much, much better place.
“I just need to keep looking after it and hopefully it heals itself.
“Hopefully, there’s no reaction from the game, it settles and I’ll be good to go.”
McGregor’s bravery, desire and quality epitomised the entire Hoops group as they sank their rivals and surged to the summit of the table.
It had been over two years since Celtic had managed to defeat Rangers and the skipper doesn’t hide the importance of ending that unhappy streak.
He said: “Yeah, of course. We spoke about it at the start of the week, what this game means to this club and what this game means to the supporters.
“It’s been a while since we won one, so it’s good to get that out of the way.
“Taking everything aside, we knew we had to go and perform and do what the manager is asking us to do every single week, regardless of whether it is Rangers, Motherwell, Aberdeen or anyone else.
“We want to play the same way, we want to play attacking football and improve every single week.
“I think we know we have that type of performance in us.
“We’ve been dominating games pretty much since the start of the season.
“Over the last little period we’ve probably not been as ruthless in terms of taking our chances, and even if you think back to previous games we’ve done a lot of good work but just not been putting the ball in the back of the net.
“We knew that if we could get an early goal then the momentum changes in the game, the crowd get involved and the whole thing can snowball from there. That’s the way that it panned out, the way we wanted to take the game to them.
“The early goal was perfect for what we wanted.
“We then created another few chances and the two quick goals before half-time sort of killed the game for us.
“I thought everybody played their part, and I want to give a special mention to the supporters. They were absolutely first class and the team fed off that brilliantly.”
