Callum McGregor reflects on Celtic’s emotional night in Munich

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·20 de fevereiro de 2025

Callum McGregor reflects on Celtic’s emotional night in Munich

Skipper Callum McGregor gave his thoughts to the media after an emotional night at the Allianz Arena on Tuesday evening…

Callum McGregor Celtic FC – Bayern München – Celtic Glasgow / UEFA Champions League / 18.02.2025 / Allianz Arena / PHOTO Mladen Lackovic LakoPress

Q: You’ve made over 100 European appearances now for Celtic, have you ever been more proud and at the same time maybe more heartbroken tonight?

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Callum McGregor: “I think every player on the pitch was heartbroken and we gave so much to the game. When the dust settles the players can feel really proud of themselves because that performance against a top club in Europe hasn’t been done many times. We set out to deliver what we did and there was a really good feeling within the group that we could come and make it really uncomfortable. We probably even exceeded that, to be honest, we played so well, and they were uncomfortable in the game and you could feel that in the stadium.

“When we come away from the game ultimately, we’ve been knocked out and that is the feeling, it’s disappointing but the players can take huge amounts of belief from that. We bank all the experience that we’ve had over these 10 games and hopefully, we’re even better for that next year.”

Kasper Schmeichel Celtic Glasgow, at the International Press Conference, UEFA Champions League, Play offs, 2024 2025 season, 17 02 2025, Germany. Photo Eibner Presse foto/Jenni Maul

Q: Kasper Schmeichel said yesterday that part of the belief is about just reminding yourselves that you’re a very good team as well as much as you’re coming to a world-class one and that very much was in evidence tonight, wasn’t it?

Callum McGregor: “Yeah, we’ve seen the template in the first game, we’ve seen enough in the 25 minutes at the end of the game. We knew the game would follow a similar pattern, to be honest, we knew that we had to be good against the ball and could the team nudge that ever so slightly and start gaining momentum which we did.

“We had even more of the ball in this game than what we did in the home game, which was good So, there’s another bit of progression there about feeling the situation but you can get after the ball. We nicked it off them a few times and the momentum of the game and the stadium started to turn so that’s everything we spoke about and tried to put it into practice, and we did that. So now with the players when they come off, we’ve given everything and I said this the other day we want to come off the pitch with no regrets and I don’t think any of the players did because they left everything out there.”

18 02 2025, Champions League, FC Bayern Muenchen vs Celtic Glasgow, Allianz Arena Leon Goretzka FC Bayern Muenchen vs Callum McGregor Celtic. Photo IMAGO

Q: It was a heartbreaking ending and you are out of the competition but given where you’re playing, who you’re playing against, and the level, is that the best you’ve ever played as a Celtic team in Europe?

Callum McGregor: “Yeah, probably. I think when you look at the opponent and you look at what you had to do over the two ties to try and get through, the performance level especially when you come here, I don’t think anybody gave us a chance. So, to go and exceed expectations as we knew that we could play like that. We had the 25 minutes at home where we understood the game, we refined it over the couple of days that we had. We knew we could cause them problems and it’s a big thing actually going out and doing it, but the players deserve so much credit because the performance was outstanding.”

In the picture from l Joshua Kimmich FC Bayern Muenchen, 6 , Serge Gnabry FC Bayern Muenchen, 7 and Callum McGregor Celtic Glasgow,, 18 02 2025, UEFA Champions League, Playoffs, FC Bayern Muenchen Celtic Glasgow, Allianz Arena, Photo HMB Media/ Heiko Becker

Q: Still a relatively young squad as well, what can this do for the senior players looking ahead?

Callum McGregor: “Yeah, they should all take big belief, and I said that to the players for some of them, so young, big performances and they play with such personality and maturity in the game. We’ve got some senior ones as well which bring that together and they were outstanding again tonight as well so it’s a really good mix of youth and experience in the group, but every single player was at the maximum level and we were just so unlucky not to progress.”

Jamal Musiala FC Bayern Muenchen and Callum McGregor Celtic Glasgow battle for the ball, UEFA Champions League 2024 25 League Knockout Play off Second Leg, FC Bayern Munich v Celtic FC, Allianz Arena on February 18, 2025 in Munich, Germany Photo by Marco Steinbrenner DeFodi Images

Conor Spence