Callum McGregor issues Celtic fan apology as captain addresses lessons that MUST be learned from Dortmund mauling

Callum McGregor has expressed the need to apologise to Celtic fans following their 7-1 thumping at the hands of Borussia Dortmund.

The Celtic captain acknowledged the pain of the loss and recognised that the loyal Hoops supporters, who turned up in their thousands at Signal Iduna Park, deserved much better after witnessing their side crumble in the Champions League clash. McGregor is keen for the Scottish champions to bounce back swiftly in their league trip to Ross County before they return to Champions League action against Atalanta later this month, reports the Daily Record.

The skipper remarked: "We can only apologise to the fans because when you play for Celtic and get beat 7-1 it is not good enough. Credit to them for sticking with us and we thank them for that. We know that can't happen again.

"I hate standing here making excuses when you lose heavily like that but I have to say a word about the supporters because all credit to them as they stuck with the team and that is a compliment to how well the team is playing and how well the season has started. We have to quickly get over it as we have another game on Sunday and the only way we can put that right is by winning."

The 31-year-old pulled no punches when discussing their defeat by Dortmund, conceding that the team had a tough lesson to learn. He commented: "Everybody will have a pop and that is what happens when you play for Celtic. I hate trying to make excuses when you get beat 7-1 because it is not acceptable.

He also found a silver lining in spite of the harsh result: "There are still positives because the season has started really well and the game against Slovan we were excellent. It shows you what the level is like when you don't quite play to it and they have a good night.

"That made things really difficult for us. We came and we wanted to be aggressive in the game and we have been humbled a bit. We need to have that learning curve for the next games that are coming up and the level."

Reflecting on the lessons from the heavy loss, he said: "We need to bring a better level of game than we did against Dortmund. We also need to learn from that when the game starts to get away from you can we shut up shop a bit and steady the flow of the game for five minutes. It is not all doom and gloom but there are no excuses when you lose 7-1."

While manager Brendan Rodgers stood by the team's strategy, McGregor acknowledged the need for tactical adaptability, especially in European clashes: "It is difficult to change the mindset as you want to be aggressive as that is the way we play and that is in our DNA.

"It is just drummed into us for so long that we think the best form of defence is attack but when you are playing against this level of quality player then they have shown us that there are other ways to do it. We don't need to be so aggressive, especially when the game is turning against you. It is just something we have to learn from."

"We want to maintain that aggressiveness as we got a good result at home and we want to be aggressive throughout the tournament. But we reached a level against Dortmund where they were better than us.

"We are where we are and we are where we expected to be after two games. It was a bad result but we have started the season really well and we just need to stay together."