Celtic not out of the title race – Defiant message from Callum McGregor

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The Celtic Star

·24 February 2026

Celtic not out of the title race – Defiant message from Callum McGregor

Callum McGregor reckons Celtic are not out the title race despite the Hoops’ 2-1 defeat to Hibs over the weekend but there are now big upcoming games the Hoops simply have to win…

Callum McGregor of Celtic reacts during the Scottish Premiership match between Celtic and Falkirk at Celtic Park on February 01, 2026 in Glasgow, Scotland. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Celtic’s setback against Hibs – their seventh Premiership defeat of the campaign – dealt a serious blow to their bid to retain the title for a fifth consecutive season, especially after leaders Hearts secured a 1-0 victory over Falkirk while the Ibrox club dropped points at Livingston.

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The champions now trail the Jambos by six points, although they do have a match in hand going into Sunday’s pivotal Glasgow Derby encounter.

Skipper Callum McGregor acknowledged the scale of the challenge facing the team, admitting they are in a fierce battle to stay in contention and may need to win every one of their remaining 11 fixtures to keep their hopes alive.

Celtic v Hibernian, Scottish Premiership, 22 February 2026 Kai Andrews shot beats Callum McGregor and Kasper Schmeichel to provide Hibs with a late winner at Celtic Park. Photo Cameron Allan IMAGO/Sportpix

Speaking via Daily Record, McGregor said: “By far, we’re not out of the title race at all. We’ve put ourselves under pressure, we need to win some big games that are coming up.”

“But that’s not beyond us, we’ve been doing that all season and we’ve been doing it for the last few years. So we have that experience in the bank. If both teams won I don’t think anybody would be saying there’s any change.”

“The league is competitive, the top four, five, six teams are all good teams. And like I said, we’ve put ourselves under pressure to win some big games that normally you can afford draws here and there.”

Callum McGregor walks out ahead of the UEFA Europa League 2025/26 Knockout Play-off First Leg match between Celtic FC and VfB Stuttgart at Celtic Park on February 19, 2026. (Photo by WM Sport Media/Getty Images)

“But I think now we have to pretty much win every game. But there will be twists and turns, so the one thing for sure is that we have to stick together.”

“I know there’ll be a lot of anger and disappointment, but we’re a long way from home. We have to keep going, we have to keep fighting and we will do that.”

Celtic return to action in Thursday night’s dead-rubber against VfB Stuttgart in Germany. Everything must now be geared towards Sunday in what is a must-win for the players.

Conor Spence