CALLUM McGregor last night put aside his Scotland disappointment to help Celtic into the Champions League group stage.
It had been an odd 24 hours for the midfielder who was snubbed by Gordon Strachan and then played his part in the 4-3 defea in Astana which, eventually, was enough to see Celtic get to where they want to be.
McGregor insisted he felt no pressure to show Strachan what he was all about in the Champions League play-off, and he had a decent first-half before the craziness began, and will concentrate on his job at club level, which has just become a whole lot more interesting.
“I think for me coming into this game I had to brush the Scotland thing off and get my mind right,” said McGregor. “I’ve always said that Celtic is my main priority. I want to do well here and then Scotland will follow. I don't know the reasons behind it - but all I can say is that it’s down for me to play well for Celtic and hopefully it comes. I’m not the type to get upset and say things - that’s not the person I am and I’m not going to start that now.
“I’m a positive guy and I’ve had a good start to the season with Celtic and I want to build on that. No-one had to speak to me – the professional mindset had to kick in. Ok it’s a disappointment but I have to focus on a big game for Celtic. It was great the manager spoke well of me – he’s backed me a lot and that’s great for players to here. I know I’m valued among the squad and with the manager.
“I grew up watching big Scotland games and cheering the likes of James McFadden scoring the winner against France. It’s a nice feeling to watch the game as a fan rather than watch it form a footballer’s point of view. I’ll definitely be cheering the boys on as there’s a lot involved from Celtic and I want them and Scotland to do well. I have to keep chapping at the door and I do that by knuckling down with Celtic.”
If McGregor does show up in the greatest stage of all then Strachan can’t ignore him anymore.
And the Champions League is where this Celtic team want and indeed need to be given their domestic dominance. It’s the greatest platform there is for any footballer.
McGregor said: “It’s exciting for the second year in a row. Hopefully we can get a good draw on Thursday. All the chat from anyone I speak to is about Real Madrid, but listen there’s a load of great teams and whoever we get will be fantastic. I think we’re a year better off and coming into the game tonight we hadn’t conceded. Obviously we’ll need to up our levels but we can fancy our chances against anyone at home.”
Captain Scott Brown admitted he had rarely experienced a night like this one.
He said: “The 4-3 was an exciting game for the neutral but not so much for us. It was 19 to 20 goals on target so it was a game of basketball and that’s not like us. We’re usually very tight and we were a bit too open. I spoke to the manager at 4-1 and the message was to tighten it up and make sure we get through.
“We had to believe in ourselves and we’ve always got Leigh Griffiths who will score and Ollie and Tom Rogic who can score at any opportunity. European football is never easy and to win 5-0 at home showed what we need to do because you never know what to expect away from home and Kazakhstan is always hard on an astroturf pitch.
“It’s a huge achievement to reach the group stage. The first game at Celtic Park was phenomenal for us but not so good coming over here. But we knew we would score goals and we were always going to make it hard for anyone we played.”
And for Kieran Tierney, the only thing which mattered to him was the end result.
“Have I ever played in a game like that before? Aye, Be’er Sheva last year,” he said. “Look, it got to 4-1 and people are automatically going to think the worst. But the boys did well in that we came back and scored two goals, which shows the character we have in such a highly pressurised game. Hey, we’ve come through and it’s a great achievement for the club once again. It something we should be proud of.
“I don’t mind who we get in the draw. We will get a good team in every single pot so it doesn’t really matter. I don’t want to avoid anyone. It is what is. We’ll deal it with it when it comes. The most important think is Celtic are in the Champions League, the biggest competition there is.
“Come Thursday and the draw, the only thing that matters is we are in there – just like last year. We won by four goals, we have had tighter ties than that, and we’ve scored eight goals over two games. We did switch off defensively tonight but that’s just one defeat in six European games. People need to focus on that. We could have played better tonight but we got the job done.”
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