McGregor urges Celtic to do their talking on the pitch and prove they've learned from some harsh Champions League lessons
After bruising and chastening defeats like Borussia Dortmund, the task of defending the indefensible falls, time and again, to Celtic’s captain.
Callum McGregor is tired of facing the music. Tired of promising to learn valuable lessons and be better next time.
So far as the skipper is concerned, it’s not enough to talk the talk. At some point, a Celtic team with any aspirations of reaching the knockout stage of the Champions League needs to stand on its own two feet.
If they carry on losing six and seven goals at this level, words become nothing more than white noise.
‘Everyone talks and talks and talks and everybody loves it,’ said McGregor. ‘But, ultimately, the game is played on the grass and we can only get away with so much talking. You have to back it up at some point.
‘We started the competition really well and then took a sore one in Germany. But, probably, the reaction to that game was based on how good we had been doing.
Callum McGregor finds it difficult to take in the enormity of his side's beating in Dortmund
Karim Adeyemi slots home the German side's fifth goal in their 7-1 thrashing of Celtic
The Celtic skipper insisted he wants his men to compete in their remaining group stage games
‘Everybody went there with full expectation that we were going to do well in the game and could maybe get something from it. But it shows there is still a big gap in terms of where we are trying to get to.
‘We can’t forget about how well we had done and that we are a good side. But we need to go and show that belief and show that quality and actually do our talking on the pitch.
‘That’s my hope for the rest of the campaign, that when we take to the pitch — and we come off again — everybody can say: “That’s a good Celtic team” and we’ve picked up points.’
After conceding seven goals in Dortmund, Celtic lost another two at home to Aberdeen on Saturday. Images of Cameron Carter-Vickers training at Lennoxtown offered the teasing prospect of the club’s most influential defender making his first appearance since sustaining a toe injury in the 5-1 hammering of Slovan Bratislava.
The absence of the American international from another Champions League game now has supporters fearing the worst.
The aggressive intensity of Atalanta has the potential to inflict further damage on a team missing the first-choice central defender and first-choice left-back Greg Taylor.
McGregor cut a relaxed figure in training ahead of the club's flight to Bergamo
Italy international Mateo Retegui has scored eight goals in eight games since moving to Bergamo in the summer.
In Europa League final hat-trick hero Ademola Lookman, Atalanta also boast a player who almost agreed to move to Celtic.
‘He was one that we tracked back in my first time at Celtic,’ revealed boss Brendan Rodgers. ‘I think everyone knows the story. I met him in a hotel in London and we were looking to convince him to come.
‘He was really excited by the project of Celtic. He was at Charlton at the time, he wanted to join a big club. He didn’t feel those pressures and everything of why a player would want to come to Celtic.
‘Charlton clearly were wanting to get as much as they possibly could for him. We spoke to him.
‘It was a move that should have helped him and his representatives. He was very clear on that. But obviously it was a financial sum in the end. I think he went for maybe £11million or something to Everton. It just drifted away from us.
Ademola Lookman was the unlikely hat-trick hero as Atalanta claimed Europa League glory
‘Financially, it was a challenge on the fee. But wages and everything else, the club could do. The player was keen in that moment. That’s as close as it got.’
Rodgers did sign Lookman on loan for Leicester City. Hampered by financial restrictions, a permanent deal proved impossible and former Atalanta sporting director Lee Congerton took advantage.
‘I’m so proud of him and the career that he’s had because he’s a young guy who came out of London and wasn’t scared to travel,’ said Rodgers. ‘When he came to Leicester, you could see everything he was. He leads his life in the right way. Everything is geared towards being the best he can be. Watching him in that Europa League final, the goals he scored were not by accident.
‘He practiced that every day of his life where he could. He would be out with a bag of balls, doing shooting exercises long after everyone else had gone in, working on his right foot and left foot.
‘He’s so balanced. He can shoot with his right foot the same as his left foot. He’s an incredible young professional. To see him score the hat-trick in the final last year was absolutely amazing.’
Rodgers did manage to sign Lookman during his time at Leicester City
None of this represents good news for a Celtic side with defensive frailties. Progress comes in different forms and, right now, the Scottish champions would probably settle for a respectable defeat in the impressive 25,000-seat Gewiss Stadium.
Irked by some of the criticism which came for both him and his team after Dortmund, Rodgers would rightly relish any result which enhanced his team’s hopes of finishing in the top 24 of the new format.
Referring to the seven-goal defeat, he added: ‘It’s an opportunity for people to beat you over the head with a stick, and that’s clear. So I’m not going to get too emotional about it. I don’t listen too much.
‘It’s a perfect storm for some people. You know that when you lose, especially when you come into Europe, that they will write a great piece on how you... actually, they’ve been saving it for probably a number of months. So that’s the opportunity to do it.
‘I can’t change that. I’m not even going to be bothered to try, to be honest. There’s no leeway given. So we just have to concentrate on our own club, keep trying to improve and see where it takes us.’
