The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Cup win the best day of my career, claims McGregor
Callum McGregor revealed that scoring in Celtic’s 2-0 William Hill Scottish Cup semi-final win over Rangers on Sunday was the pinnacle of 14 years at the club.
The 23-year-old midfielder has been with the Hoops since he was nine, notwithstanding a loan spell at Notts County.
He validated boss Brendan Rodgers’ lavish praise of him recently by sliding a shot past Gers goalkeeper Wes Foderingham at Hampden Park to set the treblechasing Parkhead men up for a final meeting with Aberdeen next month.
McGregor would not reveal the exact amount of times he had watched a re-run of the goal, but admitted it has been a “fair few”.
Speaking at Celtic Park to promote a forthcoming celebration dinner in Glasgow to honour the Lisbon Lions and the 50th anniversary of Celtic winning the European Cup, he responded to a question about Sunday being his best day in a Hoops shirt.
“I think it would be pretty close, yes, I think so,” he said.
“Just the whole day, getting the goal and the way the boys performed was top class.
“It was massive for me. I have been at this club since I was nine years old and you dream of that, days at Hampden in semi-finals and finals and scoring against Rangers.
“It just doesn’t get any better than that for a young boy coming through the system and that moment when the ball hit the back of the net was unbelievable.
“The manager has been praising me highly over the last few weeks, so it was great to go out and play like that and get a goal on a big occasion.”
McGregor has played in various positions this season under Rodgers.
And amid fierce competition he is simply glad to be featuring regularly in a Celtic side who are unbeaten domestically and who saved one of their best performances for the cup clash against their Old Firm rivals.
McGregor is expecting more of a challenge when Celtic visit Ibrox on Saturday for the last league meeting of the season between the two sides.
The former Scotland under-21 player said: “I think it will be a different game. It is always harder at their place to get on the ball and play and especially after the result on Sunday, they will be up for it.”