CALLUM McGregor last night claimed that Celtic’s performance against Valencia in Spain proves the Scottish champions can progress further in Europe in future.
McGregor and his team mates lost the second leg of their Europa League last 32 double header in the Mestalla 1-0 and were beaten 3-0 on aggregate.
Brendan Rodgers’s side crashed out of the same tournament at the same stage 12 months ago - leading to suggestions they have hit a ceiling in continental competition.
However, the Scotland midfielder, who is set to play for the double treble winners in their Ladbrokes Premiership match against Motherwell at Parkhead this afternoon, stressed the display against the La Liga club has given him hope.
"The performance on Thursday will actually be good for us because if you play like that in the home leg you have a good chance,” he said.
"We now know that when we go and show our character and show that we can play, we are good enough to play against these teams.
"I think the first 35 minutes was probably the best we have been in my time (away from home).
"I thought the system helped us, we had a lot of players centrally to pass the ball and move it through the thirds.
“To go to a place like that and dominate the ball, then it was a really good performance.
"But we can't keep saying we were unlucky. We have got to eventually learn from it and next year when we arrive in that moment we have got to be better."
McGregor will now turn his attentions to helping Celtic complete an historic treble treble.
He knows the Premiership leaders will need to be at their best to defeat a Motherwell side who have won their last six leaue games.
“Obviously with the European stuff done then the full focus is on domestic football,” he said.
"Over the last couple of seasons we have been really strong at that so I think it is a case of regrouping, seeing what we have got and then pushing the reset the button and going from now until the end of the season.
"Motherwell always come and make it difficult. We will need to use home advantage, they are in good form, they have slightly changed the way they play with a lot of young guys in.
"They are going well, the confidence is high so we need to be ready for it."
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