There was a certain irony in Callum McGregor moving level with Billy McNeill on Celtic’s all-time individual honours list after the current captain delivered the least effective display that anyone could remember from him in a major domestic match.
In truth, however, that said everything about the outcome and potential after-effects of Sunday’s Premier Sports Cup final. Rangers’ tactics — the high press, the hustling, the physicality — worked a treat, stifling McGregor as Celtic’s creative force and contributing to many other players in green and white falling well short of their usual levels.
Individually and collectively, Brendan Rodgers’ side were as poor as any opponent could have hoped for in a Hampden showpiece, Rangers got their strategy spot on and yet Phillipe Clement’s charges still could not find a way to win. Celtic — McGregor in particular — are unlikely to ever be more vulnerable in this kind of context, yet once again it was them who left the national stadium in full party mode.
“It was probably a good final for the neutral and not so much for our supporters,” McGregor said. “We put them through the wringer a wee bit. But the good thing about this group again is that, when under pressure, they can come through difficult moments. They produce moments of quality when there are super high-pressure points in games.
Celtic’s McNeill receives the European Cup trophy from the president of Portugal in 1967
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“That’s testament to the group. If you can’t play well, you make sure you still win the game and that’s what we did.”
McGregor’s eighth League Cup success took him to 23 major honours, the same number racked up by the legendary Lisbon Lions skipper McNeill. The only ones ahead of this pair are Bobby Lennox and another modern-day Celtic icon James Forrest, with 25 apiece.
Typically, McGregor was reluctant to indulge in any notion of personal glory, preferring to heap praise on Daizen Maeda for the Japanese attacker’s nerveless execution of the decisive spot-kick in the shootout.
“When you start getting mentioned in that type of sentence [company] then you know that you’ve done a lot right. So it’s a proud moment for me. But the thing for me is I just want the team to win.
“To come through that and for everyone to show their mettle and show what they’re about, you get more satisfaction as a player and as a captain. It’s great to see that within your group. Because that’s a combination of everything day to day that you do.
“That’s the thing about playing for this club. It demands success. We go into the game and probably everyone thinks we’re favourites to win. So straight away you’re on a hiding to nothing. If you win the game, everybody goes, ‘okay, up the road’. But it’s not easy. You’ve got to keep turning up and turning up. And making it happen as well.
McGregor lifts his first major trophy for Celtic, with Emilio Izaguirre, back in March, 2015
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“Over the years we’ve won a lot of cup finals and we’ve done it in different fashions. This is one that was a lot harder than some of the other ones, but that makes it even more pleasing.
“Daizen has been unbelievable. He’s come up with so many big moments this season. But not only that, the whole time he’s been here he’s been a mainstay in the team and so important for us. His energy is infectious. He’s so robust for being a winger. His numbers are through the roof and he’s contributing with big moments, which is what being a Celtic player is all about.
“Daizen always turns up when we need him. To have someone like that at the top of the pitch, where we’re blessed with so much talent, we’re obviously delighted to have him.”
When asked what advice he had given his team-mates as they prepared for the shootout in front of a wall of Rangers supporters at Hampden’s west end, McGregor said he had simply told them to rely on the good habits forged in countless previous pressure situations.
“[I said to] just trust yourself and trust each other. These things are a combination of what you build every day. Your relationships with people in the building and how we train. It’s everything.
“When those pressure moments are there, then that’s what you fall back on. You fall back on the trust and feeling inside the group. We all know we’ve got quality and we all trust each other, and the way that we work. We’ve shown that time and time again. So in those moments it was just about keeping your nerve and using your technique to get the outcome that you want.
McGregor trails his team-mate James Forrest by two trophies
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“I thought Kasper [Schmeichel] would save one. I don’t want to do him a disservice because it’s hard to save penalties. But I did fancy him to save one and that’s another clean sweep for us in terms of scoring penalties.
“Did I feel a responsibility as captain to step up and take one? Yes, of course, and also being a technical player. You get to these moments and you want to try to set the tone for the group as well. It’s always nice when it goes in. It came together perfectly for us at the end.
“You can always reflect and try to find out where you can be better But it feels much better when you’ve got another trophy in the bag and a medal around your neck.”
