It’s great to win cup and Treble again, but we know it’s bigger than that

Goal hero McGregor says scale of achievement is not lost on Celtic players

EVEN before Callum McGregor scored the quite exquisite goal that swung the Scottish Cup final in Celtic’s favour, he was already unique among Brendan Rodgers’ history-making squad.

The only player to score in all five competitions the Parkhead side have played in this season, McGregor has become an indispensable component of Rodgers’ trophyhoovering machine, even if you’re never quite sure where he’s going to pop up on the pitch.

Some days he might start at left-back, on other occasions he is asked to occupy the role of a holding midfielder. Here, he was in his element, operating as an advanced midfielder where he constantly probed and made angles for team-mates Tom Rogic, Olivier Ntcham and Kieran Tierney.

A Treble winner for the second season in a row, his place in the club’s folklore is assured. For a lad who was operating on the fringes of Ronny Deila’s squad before Rodgers’ arrival, that might seem a lot yet McGregor feels he has so much more to achieve.

Although he experienced the elation of hitting an equaliser against Bayern Munich in the Champions League and provided Celtic with a first-leg lead in the Europa League tie with Zenit St Petersburg, he acknowledges that they came up short in both competitions.

The gruelling schedule of the Champions League qualifiers will

again be upon the club in weeks. If anyone wants to know how a team that has won six consecutive domestic trophies might improve, the 24-year-old knows the European arena is where they must do better.

‘We do have something to prove in Europe in terms of getting that stage further,’ he said.

‘We did manage to ensure that we were playing in the Europa League after Christmas but against Zenit we weren’t good enough.

‘We had a good first leg but the second leg over there wasn’t good enough. First and foremost, we want to get into the Champions League group stage but that is a big ask in itself, and we have an extra round to negotiate.’

On a weekend where Celtic achieved something truly unique it seems churlish to focus on the team’s shortfalls.

McGregor has had a tremendous season, one further decorated by his first Scotland caps, but no strike was better than the snap-shot he rattled past Trevor Carson with his right boot at Hampden yesterday.

In fact, he’s not sure he’s bettered in his career. ‘This is probably the best in terms of what was at stake,’ he mused.

‘I knew it was going in as soon as I made contact with the ball. I felt it straight away. It was a sweet strike and it was an amazing feeling to contribute like that in a big game.’

Yesterday marked McGregor’s 58th appearance of the season and, on the back of such an exacting schedule, he has been excused from travelling to Peru and Mexico with the Scotland squad.

Celtic will enter the qualifiers in mid-July, which will allow him time to reflect on what he has achieved and what might come next.

‘It is still a bit raw in terms of the magnitude of what we have done,’ he continued. ‘It feels good to have won the cup and the Treble again but I think we know this is bigger than that. ‘We have achieved something special with a good group of players and a good manager.

‘We will enjoy the next couple of days first and then our summer. When we come back I’m sure we will focus on trying to win as many games as we can. We’ll want to win the league and the cups. We are at a big club and that is the expectation. We have set the standards.’ While there is bound to be even more transfer talk surrounding key assets like Tierney and Moussa Dembele, the bulk of the squad should stay intact.

For us to be mentioned in the same bracket as the Lisbon Lions is really special

Tom Rogic was the latest to commit his future to the club when he signed a new five-year deal last week, while McGregor can’t foresee a day when he would want to leave.

‘That is important,’ he added. ‘This is a special group and we want to keep that together with everyone moving in the right direction.

‘Moussa was excellent and he deserved a goal. He is a top talent and he bullied the centre-halves all day. All that was missing was a goal.

‘We want to keep as many of the boys together as possible. This is an amazing club. We get the chance to play Champions League football and we are winning things every year.

‘Look at the scenes today — you know the history and to be part of that makes you want to stay as long as you can.’

McGregor will go down as a Celtic legend, something that will take a bit of getting used to.

‘You hear that word and you hear all about the Lisbon Lions,’ he added. ‘For guys like KT and me, to grow up watching Celtic and be in that bracket is something really special.’