The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)

MCGREGOR MOTIVATED BY EURO SETBACK

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Celtic captain Callum Mcgregor knows there will be a “spotlight” on his side following their European disappoint­ment.

Mcgregor is now determined to show they can react in the right manner when they face Hibernian tomorrow.

Celtic crashed out of the Conference League on Thursday after a 2-0 defeat in Norway left them on the end of a 5-1 aggregate defeat by Bodo/glimt.

Ange Postecoglo­u’s side never really got going over the two legs against a side who are still in their pre-season.

Their performanc­es at the first hurdle of the knockout stages were in stark contrast to title rivals Rangers, who hit six goals past Borussia Dortmund to reach the last 16 of the Europa League.

But Celtic have a chance to move six points ahead at Easter Road tomorrow lunchtime before Motherwell visit Ibrox later in the day.

And Mcgregor stressed the importance of bouncing back.

The midfielder, who was a half-time substitute in the Arctic Circle, said on the Celtic website: “I think the really disappoint­ing thing is that over the two legs we never showed the kind of team that we are.

“When you get the opportunit­y to perform at this level and you don’t take it, then it hurts, so we have to react in the right way and in a positive manner.

“We’re looking forward to Sunday and that’s all we can do now – learn from it and we have to show a reaction on Sunday.

“When you have a disappoint­ing result in football, then there’s a spotlight on you to react and react in a positive way.

“So we’ll take our medicine, accept that we weren’t good enough over the two legs and we’ll look at that, we’ll look at ourselves as well, but we have to dust ourselves down and it’s a huge, huge game on Sunday.”

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