McGregor: Celtic have enough quality to reach Europa knockout stage

The Hoops suffered a 2-0 home defeat to Braga on Thursday night.

Celtic captain Callum McGregor still believes the team has enough quality to reach the Europa League knockout stage despite suffering a setback on Thursday night.

The Scottish champions were defeated 2-0 by Braga at home in their second game in the league phase of the continent’s second-tier competition.

It was the fifth time this season that the Hoops have failed to score as their form continues to slump.

But the skipper has faith in the squad’s ability to turn things around by getting back to playing well and winning games.

Speaking after the game, McGregor insisted that the aim remains to reach the knockout stage.

He said: “We have to get through the league phase and into the knockout stage, I think that’s obvious.

“We certainly have enough quality to do it, so it’s now on the players to make it happen, and we will continue to work as hard as we ever do to make sure that things start to fall for us and results go the right way.

“There is still a lot of football to be played and six games to go.

“We have to keep working, it’s a collective and everybody has to understand the responsibility to play for Celtic, drawing games and losing games isn’t good enough.

“Even if you play well for parts of the game, that’s not what’s required, we have to win games of football.

“I think the guys are all working that out pretty quickly as well, to be honest. Our job is to keep working hard to implement what the manager is asking us to do, try to get slicker and more efficient with what we are trying to do.

“I’ve been here long enough, and I know what it takes to be successful, so we will get there and it is our job to make sure that we do.”

It is Sturm Graz up next at Celtic Park for Brendan Rodgers’ men in their Europa League campaign, before they take on Midtjylland in Denmark, Feyenoord in Rotterdam, Roma at Parkhead, and Bologna in Italy before ending the league phase against Utrecht at home.

STV News is now on WhatsApp

Get all the latest news from around the country

Follow STV News
Follow STV News on WhatsApp

Scan the QR code on your mobile device for all the latest news from around the country

WhatsApp channel QR Code

Today's Top Stories

Popular Videos

Latest in Football

Trending Now