CALLUM McGregor has told his Celtic team mates they can’t allow their painful extra-time defeat to Rangers in the Scottish Cup semi-final yesterday to derail their season.
McGregor was bitterly disappointed when Ange Postecoglou’s team was beaten by Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s side after 120 minutes at Hampden.
However, the Parkhead club’s captain gathered his dejected fellow players around him in an on-field Huddle following the final whistle and delivered a message.
He stressed to the Premier Sports Cup winners they are six points ahead of their city rivals in the cinch Premiership with five games remaining and can still enjoy a successful campaign.
“There’s five games to win the league and that’s what we have to do,” he said. “We have to regroup, go again take the disappointment, we accept it.
“It’s never nice, it feels horrible, I can tell you. In there (the dressing room) everyone’s devastated. But we’ve got five games to win the league and that’s where we have to go. We have to go again.
“Harness all the good stuff we’ve done this year and learn from that, take that forward. We’ve got a big finish to the end of the season.
“This is one of the few times we’ve had a bit of a slap in the face. So it’s important that we show everyone to react in the right way. That’s all we can do now. It’s gone.
“You can analyse the game or whatever. But the fact is it doesn’t come back. We have to regroup, we’ll talk about it. But ultimately, we’re looking at the end of the season and we want to make it a successful season.”
McGregor added: “These are tough games, semi finals going all the way against a good side. So you have to be disappointed, of course you do. I didn’t think we think we did enough in the game to win it. We have to accept that.
“But, like you said, it’s important we don’t undo all the good work we’ve done and let one result affect what we’re trying to do and what we’re trying to build as a squad.
“We’ve got five games to make it a really successful season for the club. We have to focus on that.”
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