A Celtic team playing one game a week? Yes, all of our opponents to come should worry about that.

The news that Celtic have only one more midweek game left before the season ends is obviously great for the players. They have been magnificent over the course of one of the worst fixture pile-ups that I, or any of us, have ever seen. It’s all to the good that we’ve come out the other side with a mammoth lead, our European credibility restored, and a clear path to Hampden and the treble.

Nobody at Celtic will be jumping to conclusions, of course. The treble hasn’t been won yet. There’s a long way to go before it is, and we’re going to have to be at the top of our game all the way to the finish line.

Every team wants to beat us now, and every team will treat our matches like a cup final. But this team is about to get some much-needed rest between games, and that should scare Scottish football because we’re only going to be stronger and better off for it.

If, in the last couple of weeks, certain players have looked a little weary and leggy, it’s only to be expected after so many games in such a short space of time. But we’re going to have to get used to it because next season will be exactly the same, and until the Champions League format changes again, this is our future.

It’s a fact that clubs like ours are punished for our success. We want to compete in all domestic competitions as well as in Europe, and we want those extra European ties in the knockout stages.

The benefits of this “punishment” are ones that these players and this manager are more than happy to embrace. We want to play every game. We want to be out there battling for every honour. We want to challenge at the top level in Europe.

We want to prove that we deserve all the plaudits that come our way. And when you look at how many wins we’ve had, how many goals we’ve scored, how few we’ve conceded, and how many points we’ve racked up—when you look at our lead in the league and our goal difference—it’s absolutely incredible that a team playing so many games can have done so well and be so far ahead of the domestic opposition.

This is all about the elite mentality of the manager and the fitness levels of the players, and that’s a testament to good coaching.

I know we sometimes give guys like John Kennedy a hard time, but something in our coaching setup is working—something definitely works. Our players might look tired towards the end of games, but no one looks exhausted, and you get the feeling that even if we had a similar fixture congestion over the next few months, these guys would find a way to cope. They cope with everything. That’s been helped by this season’s rotation policy, which has been flawless.

It’s not just the stamina of the players either; we also suffer very few injuries. Across the city, their players are dropping like flies. I don’t know what they’re doing over there or what they’ve been doing for the last few years, but the injury issues that briefly plagued us under Ange have been completely eradicated under this manager. That has given us real stability, and I’m sure the rotation system has played a huge part in it.

We’ve done so much right this season.

We’ve gotten so much absolutely spot on. And although the summer will bring the usual stories about us losing this player and that player, I think we’re entitled to look forward with confidence. Brendan knows what he wants to do to take the club forward, and the club is well-positioned to follow his plan.

Now, as we head towards the final stretch of the campaign with just ten league games to go, this break is coming at exactly the right time. It will keep us at our peak as we push into the final stages of the season.

We play on Tuesday night and then again on Saturday, but between Saturday and the next match, there will be a full week’s break—something that every player in the squad will welcome. This has been an incredibly tough schedule, but we’ve come through it like champions. That’s why we’re going to be champions.

The rest of Scottish football should be very afraid of us now. Because this team, fully rested, will be able to handle all comers. And as we barrel towards a treble, the focus is going to be more intense than ever before.

Photo by Craig Williamson/SNS Group via Getty Images

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