Callum McGregor insists Celtic were not at the levels required to overcome an in-form Hibs side at Easter Road yesterday afternoon…
Josh Campbell’s double for David Gray’s side put the hosts 2-0 ahead at half-time. Daizen Maeda’s pulled one back for Celtic in the second half and despite piling on the pressure and having a goal wrongfully ruled out, Brendan Rodgers’ men could not find an elusive equaliser.
McGregor, like his manager, failed to use Tuesday’s exertions in Munich as an excuse after suffering their second league defeat of the season.
‘Obviously, it’s a poor result’
“Obviously, it’s a poor result,” admitted the Celtic captain as reported by Daily Record. “We didn’t play as well as we could in the first half and then by that point you’re chasing the game. We did a lot right in the second half but just gave ourselves too much to do. It’s a bad day at the office but we have to dust ourselves off quickly, with Aberdeen next on Tuesday night.
READ THIS…Sandman’s Definitive Ratings – Renton’s Rovers v Celtic
“We’re disappointed obviously with the result and the performance but we’ve been here before. We understand that you have to legislate for one of them every so often and we don’t have too many bad days. It’s about just trying to regroup and go again and be ready for Tuesday.
‘Football is never easy’
“Of course we do everything we can to minimise results like this. You arrive into every game and you want to be on the front foot and control the game and dominate the game. But football is never easy and like I said you have to legislate for one of them every so often.
“You come to some tough games in the league campaign, and you’ve got to fight it out and grind it out a little bit. We were a bit short on that today but like I said we won’t dwell on it for too long. We’ll understand where we went wrong in the game.”
The Hoops remain 13 points clear at the top of the Scottish Premiership following theRangers failing spectacularly to capitalise on Celtic’s defeat. Turning their attention to Aberdeen on Tuesday night, Rodgers’ side will have the chance to enact revenge on Hibs in two weeks time in the Scottish Cup quarter-final.
‘We respect every single opponent’
Despite the lead at the top, the Celtic skipper reckons nothing has been won yet: “No, we’ve never said that. It’s one thing that we don’t do. We don’t speak out of turn. We take every game, and we respect every single opponent.
“We try and do our talking on the pitch as much as we can. We know that we’re a mile away from any success. We’ve obviously won the League Cup but that’s it,” Calmac said.
READ THIS…The Guessing Game – Maeda’s first goal extends Celtic lead
‘The players know how demanding the league is’
“The players know how demanding the league is and what you’ve got to do to win it. The good thing is we’ve been here before and we understand what it takes. As always after a defeat you have to take stock and take your medicine a little bit and find out where you went wrong. We go again on Tuesday and like you said we have another opportunity in the cup.
“That just sharpens the focus in terms of if you’re not quite right then you can get done. Like you said, in cup games you don’t get a second chance, so we have to be ready for that.”
Celtic have a goal disallowed ❌
Daizen Maeda finds the net after an Alistair Johnston cross, but VAR concluded that the ball had just went over the line before the Canadian made contact 🤏#HIBCEL pic.twitter.com/2miS1tfDUo
— Premier Sports (@PremSportsTV) February 22, 2025
The 32 year-old Celtic captain was perplexed to see Daizen Maeda’s equaliser be ruled out by VAR after Alan Muir adjudged the ball to have gone out of play during the build-up to the goal.
“We’ve seen all the angles. The bench was convinced that it was a goal. The referee and the linesman didn’t put his flag up, so the on-field decision is a goal. From what we’ve seen then, it’s a big quality overturn. That’s part of the game. People make mistakes and you have to accept it and get on with it,” Callum McGregor
Conor Spence
Sign up and receive a free Henrik Larsson book…
