That was an awesome captain’s performance from Callum McGregor yesterday and it went a very long way to ensuring that Celtic came out on top with a 3-2 victory over a side that had to win to maintain even a long-shot chance of challenging for the title. Calmac drove Celtic on throughout and had the additional burden of playing alongside an out-of-sorts Aaron Mooy to get the win that leaves Celtic twelve points clear at the top of the league looking down on theRangers…
The Celtic captain not only played brilliantly but as usual also spoke brilliantly after the match, praising the team, the quality of the Celtic goals and the togetherness that was shown especially in those moment where he was prepared to stand up and fight for the Celtic cause and come out of each and every battle victorious. That is what all they had was complaints, excuses and moans about not getting absolutely everything their own way from the referee and VAR officials who appeared to get everything correct in a match that Celtic, although below par, still won.
Here’s what Callum McGregor had to say to Celtic TV after yesterday’s significant win in the Scottish Premiership over theRangers…
Jota celebrates with Callum McGregor after scoring our third goal during the Cinch Scottish Premiership match between Celtic and theRangers at Celtic Park on April 08, 2023. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)
The Celtic captain started by giving his assessment of the match. “It was good, a good game as well with plenty of goals, a big win in terms of the context of the season. Obviously nothing has been decided yet. Nothing has been won yet so we just want to re-focus, we want the supporters to enjoy today, we’ll enjoy it as well but when we come back in on Monday we have to re-focus and go again.”
“They were outstanding. That’s what we have in this group, outstanding people, professionals, we are together fighting for one cause, which is this club and we are trying to do it as proud as we possibly can.
“You can see that in the moments out there even when it gets difficult and there’s difficult moments in the game more often than not we’ve managed to come through them and that tells you that there’s something special in the character and make-up in the group. From me it’s an absolute pleasure to work with them.
Callum McGregor arrives at the stadium prior to the Cinch Scottish Premiership match between Celtic and theRangers at Celtic Park on April 08, 2023 (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)
“It’s a long game. It’s a long ninety minutes. There are always spells in the game where it’s starting to peter out but I think in these games you always have to be competitive. When there’s 50/50s or 60/40s you have to throw yourself in and that’s what we have as a team, we’ve a real competitive edge. The training is like that every singe day. Sometimes you’ve got to hold the guys back but what happens when you come to moments like that it becomes second nature and you jump in to defend yourself, to defend your teammates and ultimately the club so in the moments when we need that we are really competitive as well.
Kyogo Furuhashi celebrates after scoring our second goal during the Cinch Scottish Premiership match between Celtic and theRangers at Celtic Park on April 08, 2023. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)
“We’re standing here talking about how good Kyogo is again. His two finishes are special. First one unbelievable control and finish, second one he’s got no right to score from there, similar with Jota as well with his positioning on the press. He reads the next passes, he’s smelling the danger and then to have the quality to finish as well so three moments of quality and that’s what the difference is in these games.
“Every game is a big game, it’s a massive one today, we’ve won it, that what we wanted to do and that’s put us in a really strong position. But we’ve still got a few games to go so we’ll re-focus coming Monday, we’ll work hard, the manager will continue to push the group right to the final day of the season and that’s what we are about.”