Celtic’s Ibrox comeback sends clear message to title rivals – Calum McGregor

In partnership with

The Celtic Star

·3 March 2026

Celtic’s Ibrox comeback sends clear message to title rivals – Calum McGregor

Callum McGregor believes Celtic’s dramatic comeback at Ibrox has sent a clear message to their Premiership rivals that the champions are not going away…

Callum McGregor at Ibrox. theRangers 2 Celtic 2. Sunday 1st March 2026. Photograph by Vagelis Georgariou

The Hoops captain praised his side’s resilience after they struck in stoppage time to secure a vital draw at Ibrox on Sunday, keeping themselves firmly in contention at the summit.

OneFootball Videos

Victory in their game in hand away to Aberdeen on Wednesday would see Martin O’Neill’s men move above the latest Ibrox club and cut the gap to leaders Hearts to five points.

Despite their title defence hanging by the narrowest of margins, McGregor insisted the squad are relishing the challenge. Celtic have shown a knack for late drama this season, producing six decisive goals in added time to either win or rescue matches, underlining their determination to stay in the fight.

Speaking at his media conference after the match at Ibrox via PLZ, Callum McGregor said: “Yeah, I think that’s been evident obviously over the last sort of four or five weeks with the late goals and everything else.

“Obviously we’d like to avoid putting ourselves in those positions, but the game’s never perfect and it shows the team are still fighting. We believe in where we want to get to and it’s that attitude that you never know when you’re beat. Obviously, we got the equaliser again, which on the face of it looks like a really good point.

Callum McGregor of Celtic reacts as he is shown a yellow card by referee John Beaton during the Scottish Premiership match between theRangers and Celtic at Ibrox on March 01, 2026. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

“That’s what we want from the team. We spoke before the game as well and listen it was an interesting week coming ahead as well. Obviously we’ve spoken about that. Maybe the last four or five weeks it’s been quite evident.”

McGregor added: “Football’s not easy. It never goes to plan a lot of the time as well. You can plan for things, but in the moments where you’re up against it, you need characters, you need personality to take the ball and play your way back into the game and probably none better a place to do it than Ibrox.”

“Big credit to the players because it’s not easy when you’re 2-0 down and you know the fans are going crazy. It shows everyone that you know we’re right in this, obviously with a game in hand which hopefully will nudge us closer as well and then we charge down these last sort of eight or nine games and see where we can get to.”

Nicolas Raskin of theRangers and Callum McGregor of Celtic battle for possession during the Scottish Premiership match between theRangers and Celtic at Ibrox on March 01, 2026. (Photo by WM Sport Media/Getty Images)

Celtic produced a spirited second-half fightback at Ibrox, but McGregor disclosed that Martin O’Neill remained calm in the dressing room during the interval rather than delivering a stern dressing-down.

He said: “He was just nice and calm. It’s easy to get carried away in this fixture and start shouting and screaming and what you need is calm heads. At half-time as well, you sort of find the problem, find the solution and then go from there. He was excellent.”

“All the staff were really, really good, identified the solution to the game, gave us information and then the players took it on and played really well in the second half.”

Conor Spence

Celtic in the Thirties by Matt Corr. Click on image to order