“I think it’s a brilliant draw,” the Celtic captain said, reflecting on Celtic’s name being first out of the hat from the pot 4 sides and being placed in Group F alongside holders Real Madrid, the team Callum McGregor has repeatedly stated that he’d love to play in this season’s Champions League, RB Leipzig and Shakhtar Donetsk.
“Obviously most Celtic fans would have wanted Real Madrid, and it’s great to go a big stadium over there to play them,” Calmac told the official Celtic website.
“Then to get Real Madrid back here at Celtic Park, it doesn’t come any bigger than that as a fixture, so I’m everyone will be buzzing when that game comes around.
“We’ve got another two top teams as well in Leipzig and Shakhtar Donetsk. Obviously we’re a bit more familiar with Leipzig from when we played them in the Europa League about four years ago, and it just shows you that they’ve made the step up to the Champions League and stayed there the past few years.
“And then Shakhtar are one of the teams that Celtic played a few years ago in the group stages of the Champions League, so they are teams that we’re pretty familiar with.
“I’ve spoken before about being a ballboy at these Champions League games, including against Shakhtar Donetsk, so it just shows you that there’s always a fairytale aspect to football – that I’m actually now playing for Celtic in the same competition and against the same opponent that I was sitting watching all those years ago.
READ THIS…The last time Shakhtar Donetsk visited Paradise
“So they’ll all be really good games, really good fixtures, and it will be a really competitive group.”
McGregor before the draw talked about Real Madrid topping his own personal wish-list and that was a desire shared by a large number of Celtic supporters who have seen us play the likes of Barcelona, Bayern Munich and PSG several times but you have to go all the way back to 1980 for the last competitive meeting between the sides in the top stage of European football.
As a 15 year old I was there and that goes down as one of the best nights ever in the old Paradise, the attendance was 67,000 but that was just the number who had tickets. More were climbing over the wall at the back of the Celtic end than going through the turnstiles that night and Celtic simply blew the Spanish giants away with a 2-0 win that should have been more.
“To play against the holders is exactly what you want,” the skipper said. “It doesn’t come any bigger than that – the champions coming and playing us at Celtic Park. What a night that will be. Also, to go and play in the Bernabeu against Real Madrid in their famous all-white kit, that’s the stuff of dreams
“And it’s probably one that I was hoping to tick off my list before I hang up my boots, which is hopefully still a few years away yet. It’s certainly one I wanted to play in and I’m grateful that I’ll hopefully get the chance to do that, and I think everybody’s looking forward to it.”
The excitement among the players and the supporters is clear for all to see but as Celtic captain Callum McGregor knows that there’s more immediate priorities domestically starting with the trip to Tayside on Sunday morning to take on a Dundee United side that will be looking to salvage some self-respect after being battered over in Holland in their European qualifier.
“Obviously there has been excitement with the Champions League draw but the players are very much focused on the game at the weekend, and we’ll get to the Champions League stuff in a couple of weeks,” McGregor said.
“We’ve got a huge game away at Dundee United on Sunday so we have to be fully focused on that, and put all our energy and concentration into that game, and once that’s done, we’ll focus on the next game in midweek.”
That’s up in Dingwall in the League Cup against Ross County, who Celtic know from several bitter experiences, not to underestimate in this competition. The of course it’s theRangers at Celtic Park. Win these three games and Celtic will be perfectly set up for a Champions League adventure that might just prove to be more enjoyable than our last few appearances in the group stages.
