{"id":464623,"date":"2026-03-08T18:04:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-08T18:04:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/464623\/"},"modified":"2026-03-08T18:04:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-08T18:04:08","slug":"martin-oneill-confirms-reason-callum-mcgregor-celtic-absence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/464623\/","title":{"rendered":"Martin O’Neill confirms reason Callum McGregor Celtic absence"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n McGregor, who has been a nearly constant presence on the pitch, was missing from the lineup as Celtic<\/a> played in the Scottish Cup Glasgow derby.\n<\/p>\n

\n The club’s fans were quick to notice his absence in the crucial match.\n<\/p>\n

\n O’Neill revealed that McGregor’s previous game against Aberdeen had taken its toll on the skipper, leaving him too sore to take to the pitch today.\n<\/p>\n

\n O’Neill told BBC<\/a> Scotland: “Yes it is (an injury).\n<\/p>\n

\n “He was feeling pretty sore by the end of the Aberdeen game and he’s just not recovered in time.\n<\/p>\n

\n “It’s a big blow.\n<\/p>\n

\n “It’s a blow to us.\n<\/p>\n

\n “He’s the captain in every aspect of it, both a leader in the dressing room and on the field. He’ll be a big miss for us.\n<\/p>\n

\n “You have to accept it. Things like this happen in football and you’ve got to get on with it.”\n<\/p>\n

\n Kasper Schmeichel<\/a>, too, is off the roster today, with the manager reporting he remains in recovery following a recent injection.\n<\/p>\n

\n Regarding Schmeichel, O’Neill stated: “Recovery yes, from the injection as well too, so I just thought we’d give it a little bit more time.”\n<\/p>\n

\n Liam Scales<\/a>, playing at left-back in the absence of Kieran Tierney, takes the armband.\n<\/p>\n

\n Scales has been allocated the left-back position, replacing Kieran Tierney who remains sidelined due to a foot injury he sustained against Aberdeen.\n<\/p>\n

\n The midfield also saw changes, comprised as it was today of Luke McCowan<\/a>, Reo Hatate<\/a>, and Benjamin Nygren.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"McGregor, who has been a nearly constant presence on the pitch, was missing from the lineup as Celtic…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":464624,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[218,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-464623","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-football","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/464623","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=464623"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/464623\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/464624"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=464623"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=464623"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=464623"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}