Callum McGregor on Celtic sending strong title message on Sunday

In partnership with

The Celtic Star

·23 gennaio 2026

Callum McGregor on Celtic sending strong title message on Sunday

Celtic captain Callum McGregor assessed the 2-2 draw against Bologna in last night’s penultimate group stage match in the Europa League campaign and believes that the valuable point sets Celtic up for the final match next Thursday against strugglers Utrecht where a win will see Celtic qualify for the playoffs.

Celtic celebrations after Reo Hatate opens the score during the UEFA Europa League 2025/26 League Phase MD7 match between Bologna FC 1909 and Celtic FC at Stadio Renato Dall’Ara on January 22, 2026 in Bologna, Italy. (Photo by Alessandro Sabattini/Getty Images)

OneFootball Video

Assessing the match post match in his interview on Celtic TV Calmac admitted that there was a little disappointment in the dressing room afterwards that they couldn’t manage to hold out for the three points having established a 2-0 at the interval.

“Obviously we put ourselves in a position to go and win the game and I think there’s a little bit of disappointment in there in not being able to hang on but I think with the balance of the game the draw was a good result, especially going down to ten men,” Callum McGregor said.

Auston Trusty of Celtic FC celebrates after scoring his team’s second goal during the UEFA Europa League 2025/26 League Phase MD7 match between Bologna FC 1909 and Celtic FC at Stadio Renato Dall’Ara on January 22, 2026 in Bologna, Italy. (Photo by Alessandro Sabattini/Getty Images)

“It shows you where the players are at in terms of mentality to go from 2-0 to draw the game, we’re a wee bit disappointed at that. I think overall in terms of performance, ten men and taking everything into consideration it’s a really good point that sets us up for next week as well.”

The Celtic captain continued: “At the beginning, if you’re offered a chance to win at home to go through, then you take it and it does set us up well for next week.”

Celtic FC line up during the UEFA Europa League 2025/26 League Phase MD7 match between Bologna FC 1909 and Celtic FC at Stadio Renato Dall’Ara on January 22, 2026 in Bologna, Italy. (Photo by Alessandro Sabattini/Getty Images)

Next up is Hearts away on Sunday with Johnny Kenny set to miss out having picked up a calf strain in Bologna. The Irish striker will get a scan done today and isn’t definitely out quite yet but it is certainly looking that way.

Kelechi Iheanacho is back on the grass but Tynecastle is likely to be too soon for the Nigerian striker but new signing Tomas Cvancara trained with his teammates today for the first time and is set to start against Hearts on Sunday. It’s a game Callum McGregor is very much looking forward to.

“We’ll just recover as much as we can,” the Celtic skipper said. “We’ll be in today and on Saturday, so it’s just recovery and preparing for the game, and then when the game comes, we have to do everything we can to make sure that we win the game and hopefully send a strong message.”

All Books Now Half Price in the Celtic Star Books January Sale…

These books now available at at HALF PRICE in our January sale – click on image to order…

Order from Celtic Star Books HERE!

Please note that p&p is priced at £4.50 is only charged on ONE book so you can buy as many of our books as you like and the postage cost will remain the same. Why not expand your Celtic library today?