Celtic captain Callum McGregor admits that the title race may go down to the wire after his side missed a chance to cut the gap on leaders Hearts yesterday in a 2-2 draw at Tynecastle.
The defending champions were ahead twice thanks to goals from Benjamin Nygren and Hyun-jun Yang, but a late Claudio Braga equaliser after an Austin Trusty sending off meant the gap between the sides remained at six points.
And with Rangers’ revival under Danny Rohl bringing them above Celtic into second place, McGregor believes the three-horse-race will go to the final stages of the season.
He said: “I think if everyone is sensible about it then it probably will go down to the last couple of games.
“We know where we are, we know where we need to be, and today you know, you have to stay in touch, and given the circumstances, a point is a decent result.
“We are a little bit disappointed that we don’t hang on, but you know that Hearts are going to come strong, they’re strong on set-pieces, they have been all season.
“So you know that the game is always in the balance but that fighting mentality, we showed it on Thursday night, we showed it again today, and we’ll need it for every game between now and the end of the season, that’s for sure.”
Celtic received their second red card in as many matches when Austin Trusty was sent down the tunnel after a VAR review with Celtic leading 2-1. McGregor feels that there would be less questions being asked had official Steven McLean shown the red initially, rather than having his decision being overturned.
“It’s probably one if he gives a red off the bat, you’re probably not too surprised.
“But when he gives the yellow, I think the only question is ‘is that an obvious enough error to then go to the monitor?’, I’m not sure.”
There has been speculation surrounding the midfielder’s future at Parkhead, with reports linking him away with an astonishing reunion with former Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers in Saudi Arabia. When quizzed on the rumours, McGregor was straight to the point.
“No, no. I’m here.”
The 32-year-old rarely made media appearances throughout the ill-fated reign of axed gaffer Wilfried Nancy, and conceded that it has been a more ‘struggling’ period as a Celtic player for him.
“It’s certainly not been easy, but I don’t think that’s been the case for anyone.
“When you’ve been so successful and you win so much and then you go through a spell where you’re sort of struggling and the team are struggling, then of course it’s difficult.
“But that’s gone now, we have to draw a line under it and move forward, and I think the reaction again since Martin [O’Neill] and Shaun [Maloney] and Fozzy [Mark Fotheringham] and the guys that have come back in has been first class.
“It’s now about what we do between now and the end of the season.”
Celtic face FC Utrecht of The Netherlands this Thursday in the Europa League knowing that a win guarantees them a spot in the next round of the competition. Their next domestic encounter takes place at Celtic Park on Sunday in the form of John McGlynn’s Falkirk.
