CELTIC’S squad have at least 22 games to play between now and when the league breaks up for a few weeks in January. Should they reach the Betfred Cup final add another two on to that hefty total. They have already played 14. Include a few international games as well and it’s a huge number of matches for the players to take on.

James Forrest and Kieran Tierney played more games than any other player from Europe’s recognised top leagues last season.

It might well be that a Celtic player tops that chart again.

Rosenborg – again – are the opposition on Thursday for the first game in the group stage of the Europa League and if anything, the campaign this season is more difficult than last because of the Thursday matches.

Celtic are also not as strong as a year ago with Moussa Dembele and Stuart Armstrong having left, and Patrick Roberts’s loan spell ended. Not one of these three has been close to adequately replaced.

Lewis Morgan has yet to kick a ball, Jozo Simunovic is a shadow of the player he was, Jack Hendry doesn’t look up to it, while Odsonne Edouard is going to be inconsistent.

So, once again it will be go-to players such as Callum McGregor who will play almost every match and be expected to play his minimum eight-out-of-10 game every time.

It is asking a lot of him even if the 25-year-old seems relaxed about the pressure and stresses which have been placed upon him and he is looking to get the Europa League off to a good start when the Norwegian champions come to Glasgow for the third time in 14 months.

“It’s only been a couple of months since we played Rosenborg but that’s a good thing in a way because we know exactly what we need in terms of prep and the way they play,” he said.

“They are in good form right now, have won a bunch of games in their league, so I’m sure they’ll fancy it, and want to get back at us for the Champions League so we just have to recover and prepare properly.

“It’s the first game in the group; we’re trying to achieve something in the Europa League so this first game is vital. We have to use the home advantage to get the three points and start well.

“If we can do that then momentum can be so important. We’re not going to put pressure on ourselves by saying we’re getting to the quarter-finals or whatever. We’ve got a tough group, so we need to make it out of that and then anything can happen.

“We’ve got a big squad, you’ve seen that over the last couple of the seasons, that’s why we’ve been so good in most compet-itions. We have players who can come in who are just as good as the ones they’re replacing.

Everyone will be used in the next couple of months.”

McGregor will be vital to his team in Europe where he has done well over the last two seasons with his goals and assists.

The midfielder spoke to manager Brendan Rodgers before a ball was kicked and knows what he has to do this season in order to progress.

“He’s just told me to continue where I left off,” McGregor said. “Play to a good standard, help the team, chip in with goals and assists. But I set these standards for myself as well. I want to get close to the 12-goal mark of last season so it’s as much personal as the manager making demands of me.”

McGregor and Celtic will have to be better against Rosenborg than they were in Paisley on Friday night when they were fortunate to get away with dropping only two points against St Mirren.

He admitted: “It’s always difficult, the first game back from internationals. Everyone’s away, playing different systems, so to get everyone back in and get a feel for the way we want to work can be hard sometimes. But we’ll try to take the positives out of it for Thursday.”