Callum McGregor relishes new Aberdeen challenge as Celtic skipper unsurprised by Dons' remarkable start

There is quite a rivalry blossoming between Celtic and Aberdeen this season.

Both unbeaten domestically, level on points at the top of the Scottish Premiership, and a thrilling 2-2 draw in the book already at Celtic Park this term mean they are the country's best two sides so far this season. Now, they are about to face each other once more and this time there is even more on the line than league points.

Sunday sees them clash at Hampden in the Premier Sports Cup semi-final and Hoops skipper Callum McGregor is not surprised at all with how impressive Jimmy Thelin's Dons has been. The captain was up for media duties to preview their Glasgow showdown and he was full of praise for the Granite City side, and said it can only be a good thing for Scottish football to have the Pittodrie side mixing it with them at the league's summit.

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"Just the whole game to be honest, it's really impressive," he says of Aberdeen. "They're together when they defend, there's not many spaces there and then they carry a threat on transition as well. They've got speed in the team, they've got good physicality in the team, so I've been really impressed by them in tomorrow, but it'll be another tough game for sure.

"I think as many teams as we can get doing well in Scotland, then ultimately gives us a better product. It gives people a better product to watch and it's more competition for the team. We want everybody to be strong and fighting against each other and hopefully we can come out on top. Aberdeen will have the same intention as well. They want to win the game tomorrow and we want to win so it will be a good game."

Quizzed on whether he was surprised by the Dons' start at the top of the league so far, he responded: "I don't think so. I think when you watch them they're really well organised, they've got a really good idea of what they're trying to do and then what the wins do is they just gather belief and as soon as that happens and momentum, we speak about it all the time in football, it can be such a big thing.

"So they've obviously done a lot of good work over the summer and they've carried that onto the games and you speak about that snowball effect, they are where they are and they deserve to be there. So we have to treat everyone with the utmost respect and bring our level to the game to try and make us successful as well."