Callum McGregor ready to rip up Celtic Champions League nearly tag as skipper says 'no more hard luck stories'
Callum McGregor insists Celtic are determined to blast into the knockout stages and rip up their Champions League nearly men tag.
The Hoops skipper is sick of hard luck tales against Europe’s big guns and they can seal a spot in the next phase with a game to spare if they can sweep aside Swiss champs Young Boys in Glasgow on Wednesday night. Celtic have failed to escape the group stage since Neil Lennon’s heroes toppled Barcelona on the way to the last 16 in 2013.
McGregor is out to change the record and said: “It would mean a lot, obviously. We’ve tried and failed pretty much most of the time. It’s a big step for the club. Everybody wants to be a part of it. We’ve done ever so well so far, but we don’t want to be the nearly team. We feel like we’ve got a team here, a profile of player and squad that should be getting success.
“It’s now down to the players to prove that. No more hard luck stories? Yeah, yeah, exactly. You want to be a team that is successful, that can get to the next phase and try and get even further than that.
“We’ve done a lot of good work, and I think with the work that we’ve done and the performances that we’ve given, if we do fall short now, then that would be a sore one for us, because we have been so good. At the end of the eight games, people will just see whether we qualified, if we’re not qualified, and then they’ll just forget about the performances.
“That’s what I’m talking about, about being a nearly team. We need to back that up with something tangible as well. That’s the type of success that we want to bring. It’s a really tough competition, and if we can get through to that next phase, then for us and the journey, that’ll be a step forward.
“It’s been a long time since the club has done it. So can we be the group of players that bring us back to that level? It’s certainly what we want as a club, and, if we do that, the players can feel proud of themselves as well.”
Celtic are unbeaten at home in the Champions League this season with victories against Slovan Bratislava and RB Leipzig and a draw with Club Brugge. Parkhead was rocking for the Leipzig lashing and McGregor wants a repeat.
He said: “Hopefully, that’s the aim. We always speak about when we come to this level you have to do a lot right and I think that night we were pretty much perfect. As good as we’ve been in a night like this. We have to find a similar level of performance and we have to be clinical when we get the opportunities when we’re up in the game. We’ve got to take them and then we’ve got to be mature against the ball as well. We’ve done a lot of that, we’ve been pretty good. We just have to bring it.”
McGregor won’t underestimate Young Boys and he admitted European sides have sat up and taken notice of Celts since the Leipzig clash – with Brugge and Dinamo Zagreb setting up to frustrate the Scots. Young Boys might attempt similar, but the skipper said: “I think teams now, probably after the Leipzig game, are maybe giving us a bit more respect.
“It’s similar if you come flying after Celtic, the good players will pick you off and they’ve got speed in transition and all these things. So I think now teams are giving us a bit more respect.
“They’re a bit more mid-pitch block, trying to force you down one side and trap you there. So it’s up to us to find a solution to that of course. But it’s a good thing because teams are now respecting what we can do at this level.”
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