Celtic captain Callum McGregor is relishing the pressure of keeping the Scottish champions at the top of the pile.
McGregor will lead his team out for their cinch Premiership opener against Ross County on Saturday looking to begin the process of adding to his 20 major honours.
Celtic face the challenge of a Rangers side who have added nine players, while Aberdeen, Hearts and Hibernian have also been spending money.
And McGregor is excited about the chance to meet the renewed competition head on.
“If you are in elite sport, you have to enjoy the pressure,” the 30-year-old said. “There is always a challenge. There’s challenges within the building, new players coming in trying to push the players who are playing. You get a real competitive edge within the squad.
“And then of course when you come together as a squad you have 11 other teams who are trying to beat you. That’s the pressure you want as a football player. You want to stay at the front. You understand how hard that challenge is but it’s something that you relish.”
Celtic won their fifth treble in seven seasons last term but McGregor knows that can quickly become irrelevant.
“I have been lucky enough to have that feeling a fair few times in my career but when you start a new season, you start afresh,” he said. “It doesn’t count for anything.
“Everyone is now looking at: ‘Can you win it again, can you do this, can you do that?’ You have to find the answers and if you play at a top club like this then you have to take that challenge on.
“You embrace it, you embrace it with your mates, the manager, everyone together, supporters. What is better than that challenge, to continue to push and improve every year?
“We have to. It’s simple. We had a tremendous season but we have to park that. It’s a new manager, some new players, and a fresh test of mentality, quality, finding a way to win. All of these things.”
Manager Brendan Rodgers returns to competitive action for Celtic against a familiar face in former Hoops defender Malky Mackay.
The Ross County manager worked under Rodgers at Watford before succeeding him as Hornets boss. The pair then managed Swansea and Cardiff at the same time before Mackay’s acrimonious departure from the Bluebirds set back his managerial career.
Rodgers said: “I am really looking forward to seeing Malky. Malky is a good man.
“I have to say Ross County are very, very fortunate to have someone of that calibre as a manager.
“He has had a real challenging decade, Malky, but what I know from working with him is what a first-class manager he is, and a coach and person.
“He has done a great job at Ross County with, I am sure, limited resources. He had a great finish a couple of seasons ago and obviously fought to stay in the league last season.
“But what I know about Malky’s teams, they always make it really, really difficult. He’s a top-class manager that Ross County are very fortunate to have.”
Madrid's two-goal hero Diaz turns focus to Champions League glory after Granada win
Real Madrid swept aside already relegated Granada in LaLiga on Saturday but Los Blancos attacker Brahim Diaz says all focus is on lifting the Champions League.
Diaz was twice on target as Madrid eased to a 4-0 away victory, with Fran Garcia and Arda Guler also finding the net for Carlo Ancelotti's side.
Madrid had already been crowned LaLiga champions last weekend before edging through their Champions League semi-final clash with Bayern Munich in midweek.
The Spanish giants meet Borussia Dortmund in UEFA's showpiece at Wembley Stadium on June 1 – and the Champions League trophy was on Diaz's mind after defeating Granada.
"We all wanted to show that we want to get maximum points in the league. I'm very happy with the goals," Diaz told RMTV.
"I reached 12 goals and seven assists. It's very easy to play here, with these team-mates.
"The most important thing is the titles. We already have the [Spanish] Super Cup, the league and we want the Champions League."
Granada remain in 19th place with 21 points, while 15th-placed Mallorca's victory over Las Palmas earlier in the day confirmed their relegation after just one season in the top flight.
"You could have expected it, of course, but when Mallorca wins it becomes mathematical and getting relegated, it's one of the most complicated games we've ever played," Granada's Carlos Neva told DAZN.
"I told my team-mates that we should finish fighting, with our heads held high. We should enjoy the top flight, because we don't know if we'll ever play in it again."
Madrid head coach Ancelotti, meanwhile, had words of encouragement for the relegated side.
"In sport you have to look at defeat too, it has to be an opportunity to do better in the future," the Italian told his post-match press conference.
"Granada is an important club and they will try everything to get promoted next season and they have the chance to do it."
Terzic slams Mainz showing after Dortmund suffer Champions League hangover
Edin Terzic warned Borussia Dortmund must swiftly forget about their Champions League heroics in Paris after a 3-0 humbling by Mainz on Saturday.
Lee Jae-Sung twice punished a sloppy Dortmund performance after Leandro Barreiro had opened the scoring for relegation-battling Mainz in their Bundesliga clash.
That abject performance came after BVB managed a 1-0 away victory against Paris Saint-Germain, progressing to the Champions League final after a 2-0 aggregate victory over Luis Enrique's side.
Dortmund head coach Terzic was far from impressed after defeat against Mainz left his side four points adrift of fourth-placed RB Leipzig in the German top flight.
"Let's let Paris be Paris and talk about last week and this week," Terzic told Sky Sport Germany.
"The starting position was similar to last week. Except now we were always late and outnumbered.
"It was a deserved defeat, especially because of the first half."
Marco Reus echoed Terzic's sentiment after Dortmund came crashing back down to earth following their European success.
"If you see the first half, it's deserved, even at the highest level," the Dortmund veteran added.
"We expect more from ourselves. There was still a lot at stake for Mainz.
"It was important for us to continue to gain self-confidence. That just was not good today. This is a pity."
Dortmund will hope to respond when they host Darmstadt next Saturday before their Champions League final against Real Madrid on June 1 at Wembley Stadium.
Wolves have work to do as promising season fizzles out, says O'Neil
Wolves boss Gary O'Neil says there is a "lot of work to be done" at Molineux ahead of next season, after their downturn continued with a 3-1 loss to Crystal Palace on Saturday.
Michael Olise, Jean-Philippe Mateta and Eberechi Eze were on target as Wolves were beaten in their final home game of the campaign, with the in-form Eagles making it five wins in six matches.
Wolves have won just one of their last 10 games in all competitions (two draws, seven defeats), a run which began with a dramatic FA Cup quarter-final collapse against Coventry City in March.
After beating Fulham 2-1 on March 9, O'Neil's team sat eighth in the Premier League table, just one point adrift of the top seven.
However, injuries to key attackers Pedro Neto, Hwang Hee-chan and Matheus Cunha stunted their momentum and a once-promising campaign will now fizzle out to a bottom-half finish.
O'Neil has previously said Wolves will not be able to spend big in the transfer market ahead of 2024-25, but he knows they need to strengthen.
"There's lots that we have to improve," he said. "In the first two thirds of the season we looked like a team chasing Europe, and in the last third of the season you could see the issues that we've had and those have come to light.
"As a football club, we need to have a real good look at the last few weeks.
"People are starting to come back, and we still haven't managed to regain that impetus and momentum that we had before.
"There's a lot of work to be done between now and the start of next season, and a tough away game next week at Anfield."
Wolves go to Liverpool for their last game of the season next week, as the Reds' final opponents under departing boss Jurgen Klopp.
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