McGregor Seeks Crucial Victory for Play-off Qualification

Celtic’s Captain, Callum McGregor, has called on the team to secure “one big win” to reach their goal of advancing to the Champions League last 16 play-offs. McGregor, a midfielder, expressed his belief that he and his fellow players have accumulated “a good body of work,” having earned eight points from their initial five matches. With upcoming fixtures against Dinamo Zagreb away next month, Young Boys at home in January, and an away game against Aston Villa, McGregor remains confident in Celtic’s ability to progress to the knockout phase. Following the 1-1 draw against Club Brugge at Celtic Park, McGregor stated: “We’re maybe feeling we’ve missed an opportunity because it’s a home game and we were the team that was pressing to win.” He continued, “So there’s a little bit of disappointment there but it’s important we take stock of where we are. We have three games to still progress and we’re where we want to be, where it’s all in our own hands. We’ve got everything to play for. “When you look at how it’s shaping up, you’re one big win away from reaching the objective which was trying to get into the play-offs, so it’s been a really good body of work.” McGregor concluded, “There’s still a lot of work to do but the players are growing in confidence all the time. We’re always still learning as well. It’s been a good campaign so far.” The skipper noted that Celtic has significantly improved its ability to secure results in the challenging environment of the Champions League. He implied that the impressive 3-1 victory over Leipzig might have led to expectations that a strong Brugge team would be easily overcome. McGregor further commented, “The performance level against Leipzig was so high. It was a perfect storm,” and added, “There are times you have to suffer because they’re all good teams. Brugge showed that. You’re not always going to have everything your own way.” He concluded by saying, “That’s another string to our bow at this level – we’re happy to suffer when we need to.”