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Captain Callum McGregor believes celtics Showed their character and personality, fighting back from two goals down to eventually draw 2-2 rangers Sunday at Ibrox.
McGregor delighted with Celtic’s game against Rangers
Martin O’Neill’s side were blitzed in the first half by Rangers, who took the lead thanks to a brace from 21-year-old Portuguese striker Yousef Cermiti, but Celtic looked to be trailing for long periods of time.
However, in a stunning second-half comeback, left-back Kieran Tierney headed home in the 56th minute and after Rangers goalkeeper Jack Butland saved his penalty and rebounded his second shot, substitute Leo Hartart scored a dramatic late equalizer to earn a point, although the draw favored Premier League leaders Hearts.
With nine games remaining, Rangers are six points behind the Edinburgh club and two ahead of Celtic, who face Aberdeen away on Wednesday night.
The Hoops have also scored crucial late goals against Dundee, Livingston and Kilmarnock in recent weeks, with midfielder McGregor praising the team’s resilience.
He said: “Maybe in the last four or five weeks it’s been obvious. Football is not easy.
“A lot of times it never gets planned either. You can plan things but when you’re going through tough times you need character, you need personality to get the ball and get back into the game and there’s probably no better place than here.
“It shows everyone that we’re right in that regard and obviously we’ve got a game in hand and hopefully that will bring us closer as well and then we charge in the last nine games and see where we can get to.”
McGregor believes Celtic’s never-say-die attitude can send a psychological message to other teams that they want to retain the title.
He said: “Obviously we probably don’t want to get ourselves into this situation but like I said the game is never perfect and it just shows that the team is still fighting.
“We believe in what we want to achieve and it’s that attitude that you never know when you’re going to get beaten and obviously we equalized again on Sunday which, on paper, seemed like a really good point.”
Thousands of Celtic fans celebrated at the end of the game but next Sunday’s Scottish Gas Cup quarter-finals at Ibrox There will be around 7,500 traveling fans in the Broomloan Standin accordance with the competition rules.
McGregor believes that, along with the siege mentality they displayed on Sunday, could be key factors.
He said: “That’s what we expect from the team. We know we have a cup game this weekend and we want to get as much into it as possible.”
“Obviously we’ll have a complete position as well and little things like that can hopefully turn the momentum in your favor and that’s what we need to do.
“But the lads showed every bit of character they had and ultimately it was a very good point.”
Willie Collum to investigate penalty incident – Hackett
While much of the focus has been on the penalty awarded to Hartart by John Beaton, former PGMOL chairman Keith Hackett claimed the Scottish Football Association will investigate the penalty missed by the referee.
Hackett told us Dujon Stirling appeared to have grabbed Sebastian Tunecti’s shirt and tied him up Football Insider Collum will investigate.
“Well, I do hope that referee chief Willie Collum will look at this and ask the referee and VAR why they failed to award a clear penalty.
“The defender used physical contact to block the opponent. This is a foul and a penalty should be awarded.”
The draw leaves both teams behind a high-flying Hearts side, but with the Hoops still having a game remaining, a win against Ibrox could decide the season.
