Scotland’s penalty shoot-out against Israel in the Euro 2020 play-off semi-final on Thursday night was one of the biggest moments that the national side have had for a long time.
The chance to be one game away from reaching the Euros next year was on the line. You needed to have a lot of courage and responsibility to take one of those five penalties.
Beat the goalkeeper with style
One player that stepped up and took the responsibility was Celtic’s Callum McGregor. He took the second penalty and beat the goalkeeper in style, on the way to a 5-3 penalty victory.
That took a lot of a courage. Especially as McGregor once missed a vital penalty at Hampden for Celtic against Rangers.
If Neil Lennon was watching he would have been impressed with the bottle shown by the Hoops midfielder. In fact, Lennon might well consider making McGregor Celtic’s next captain, partly based on the responsibility shown by McGregor in taking the penalty.
There are a number of other reasons McGregor could be Celtic’s next captain. Such as the fact he has played with current skipper Scott Brown for years, is a veteran of the current Celtic team and has often taken responsibility for the Hoops when it mattered most.
Banished memories of previous miss
On this occasion, McGregor wasn’t afraid to stand up and be counted. When Steve Clarke asked who wanted to take a penalty, McGregor was more than happy to banish the memories of the miss against Rangers, and help Scotland to a vital win.
Scott Brown watching on must have been proud of that moment. Indeed, had Brown not retired from international football, he would surely have taken one of the penalties.
However, on this occasion it was down to McGregor. He showed that when it comes to the big moments, he has got the bottle, responsibility and courage. That is what a good captain needs to have, and McGregor has all the makings of being Celtic’s next skipper.
In other news, some Celtic fans were impressed with Hatem Elhamed’s performance for Israel vs Scotland.
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