Captain delighted with Scottish Cup progress

In partnership with

Celtic F.C.

·18 January 2025

Captain delighted with Scottish Cup progress

Celtic go into the hat for the fifth round of the 2024/25 Scottish Cup and the start of the road there was smoothed by a 12th-minute opener from skipper, Callum McGregor in the 2-1 win over Kilmarnock.

The goal was his seventh of the season and, as has been his trademark strike this term, it was a pile-driver from outside the box.

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In his midfield domain he picked up a deft ball from Kyogo, rode a tackle and sped forward before firing a sweet shot into the bottom corner

He said of the team’s performance: “It was really good and the scoreline is probably not a reflection of the game.

‘We could have had four or five easily. So credit to the players for the way they played. They created so many opportunities.’

“But sometimes you have days when it just doesn’t quite fall for you or o in.

“And then you have to see the game out, which I thought we did, really, really well, with a strong defensive mentality.

“They started chucking it in at the end and you’ve got to deal with it, so, a really good performance and glad to be in the next round.”

He added; “They set up a wee bit passive in the first bit of the game, so the two strikers were in about the centre halves and I was the free man at that point.

“So the way we work the ball and try to skip a line and work forward, you become the extra man. It was good to get that bit of freedom, jump forward and obviously get the goal, which gets things started as well.”

The win now sets the Celts up for the visit of YB Bern on Wednesday in the Champions League, and the skipper is delighted with the Kilmarnock win before the midweek action.

He said: “It’s good preparation, it was tough game against Kilmarnock, they have a couple of ways they like to play against us.

“It’s always a physical game, so that’s good as it gets us to the level for Wednesday night and we’ve got to come here with big energy, and play with big quality to try and get the win.

“And then hopefully that’s enough to get us to where we want to be.”