Celtic told Callum McGregor did something ‘you wouldn’t associate with him’ against Rangers

Add as preferred source on Google

Callum McGregor has never lost a major final in Celtic colours.

What a record that is for the 31-year-old, who has plenty more to offer Celtic, and is already regarded as one of the club’s greatest-ever players.

That was further proven when Celtic beat Rangers on penalties in the League Cup final on Sunday at Hampden.

These Glasgow derbies are usually dominated by McGregor and he finds that Rangers do everything in their power to stop him from running the game.

For the majority of the time, it has worked, but even he will admit that, over the weekend, it was rather different and he was asked questions never put forward to him before.

Celtic went 1-0 down and the build-up play was passive, predictable and error-prone, that’s why Brendan Rodgers subbed off Auston Trusty for Liam Scales.

In the second half, it changed on its head, with three goals from the champions and the man with the armband was at the heart of it, but not like you have seen him before.

Callum McGregor praised for ‘hooking’ the ball away for Daizen Maeda’s goal

It was a frantic game and that was proven by how congested it was in the middle of the park. It looked and felt like you had no time to breathe on the ball.

So much so that Scott Allan feels that McGregor did something ‘you don’t associate with him’ and that’s hooking the ball away, as he told Sportscene.

It occurred when he missed a header, had his back to Rangers’ goal, chased back after the ball, hooked it over his head and then, in next to no time, Maeda was putting the ball in the back of the net.

“The interception as well, he is always onto it,” said Allan about Maeda. “His first touch. He actually takes it away from Propper and it allows him to hit it into the ground and into the corner.

“But for me, seeing Callum McGregor in the middle of the park just hooking one on isn’t something you would associate with him. In a game like that, when it’s frantic in the midfield, that was decisive for them.”

McGregor hails Celtic ‘personality’ against Rangers

Celtic have Rangers’ number because, regardless of how the game pans out, there is always only one winner and they hail in the green and white.

Rangers boss Philippe Clement hasn’t beaten Celtic and Rodgers has only lost once on 20 occasions to further prove the dominance.

As McGregor told Celtic TV, the team had to ‘dig in’ and they did that by showcasing their ‘personality’ and no one displayed it better than the skipper himself.

“It was a tough game, an old-fashioned cup final and the game becomes a bit chaotic and, to be honest, we gave ourselves a lot of work to do by the way we started the game,” said McGregor.

“So the big takeaway is how well the players dug in and fought for each other, and then in the moments when we had to show quality, we did that to make sure we bring the trophy home. “If you want to win things you need a big personality in difficult moments and pressure situations. That’s so many penalties in a row we’ve scored, so it bodes well, it shows the work the boys are doing leading into these games.

“You know that anything can happen but then it’s about keeping your nerve and trusting yourself, trusting your technique and trusting your team-mates, and Kasper came up with a big save as well.”