McGregor hell-bent on staying unbeaten

AS Callum McGregor wheeled away in jubilant celebration, his joy was rooted as much in relief as satisfaction. With Hibernian leading 2-1 at Celtic Park, McGregor admits there was only one thought going through the heads of everyone associated with the hosts.

This was it, wasn’t it? The day when that great Invincible run would be brought to an… oh, hold that thought.

McGregor, whose late equaliser three weeks ago preserved a remarkable sequence of unbeaten domestic matches for Brendan Rodgers’ men, knows that Neil Lennon will have his players fired up to end the run at 59 matches tomorrow.

He’s also sure that, within the Celtic camp, there will be absolutely no complacency at Hampden. Not after that most recent encounter.

McGregor, whose double denied two-goal John McGinn a starring role in what would have been a spectacular victory, admitted: ‘You look at the game we played against Hibs recently, when they went 2-1 up with 13 minutes to go.

‘Pretty much everyone in the stadium looked at each other and thought: “This could be the one”. But we got back in the game and scored — and might even have had a penalty, as well.

‘It’s a great unbeaten record and we want to see how far we can go.

‘There have been a few tight games in there and you think: “Maybe this is the day we lose it”.

‘But the strength and mentality of the boys comes through. We don’t know when we’re beaten and we’ve scored late goals, too — which boosts confidence to continue the run.’

On a personal note, McGregor (right) has a pretty impressive record at Hampden, only losing twice — both semi-finals in 2016 — in a whole host of appearances dating back to his youth team days. No matter how often he visits the national stadium, he always gets that little tingle of anticipation when he walks into the place.

‘It never gets old,’ he said. ‘These are the games you want to play in, big occasions at Hampden.

‘It has been good for us so far, so hopefully we have another good day on Saturday.

‘There have been a few good memories — starting against Rangers and scoring is probably the best.

‘Then there was the Scottish Cup Final against Aberdeen, doing the Treble.

‘My first time here? I remember coming to watch a Scotland game, Scotland-Spain, me and my pals were jumping about in the stands.

‘I haven’t been here that often as a fan. I was with my brother and my pal, we were jumping about like loonies when Scotland scored.

‘Youth cup games were probably the first time I played here. The first one was Rangers I think, we won 2-1 in extra-time.

‘Then we played Queen of the South here and won 7-0. I scored a hat-trick that night, and Dylan McGeouch got two then got taken off. I think he was raging because he wanted a hat-trick, too!

‘When you play somewhere and have good memories, it gives you that extra little bit of confidence.

‘There is a chance for us to reach a final, so there will be added spice to it. But we know Hibs are a good side and we will need to be at our best to win.’

Despite a chastening defeat in Munich on Wednesday night, McGregor is confident that Celtic can one day reach the level of Bayern and Paris Saint-Germain. ‘The way the manager wants us to play, we will get more confidence from these big games,’ he added. ‘We are getting

better.’