Celtic

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.

Interim Celtic manager Martin O’Neill believes it was the wrong decision for Austin Trusty to be sent off following an on-field review. The American defender was initially given a yellow card by referee Steven McLean following his challenge on Landry Kabore in Celtic’s 2-2 draw away to Hearts, but VAR official John Beaton recommended an on-field turnover of decision and sent McLean to the monitor. The yellow was upgraded to a red, with Trusty deemed to be the last man. However, O’Neill disagrees with the need for VAR to interfere. He said: “I do have an argument with the red card. “The referee has given a yellow card and he’s sent over, obviously VAR re-referee the game, and it is no more a red card than a blue card – which don’t exist I don’t think. “First of all, the ball is going away from goal, so the player has to get hold of that and control it. “And secondly, more importantly, is that we’ve got someone in the cover. That’s what the referee saw in the first place, and it puts you under severe pressure in the last twenty odd minutes.” Trusty saw red when the score was at 2-1, with Hearts forward Claudio Braga netting the all important equaliser in the 87th minute. Defeat would have seen Celtic fall nine points behind the league leaders, and O’Neill believes a point a piece was an honest outcome. “They [Hearts] might’ve had the opportunity with us down to ten men and having played on Thursday night, there might have been that chance [of a Hearts win], “But in the overall take of the game, a draw probably is a fair result.” Celtic’s injury list grew by one name as Kieran Tierney was substituted off a moment before Trusty’s sending off. O’Neill is unaware of the extent of it just yet, and in unsure if he will make the Europa League contest fixture with FC Utrecht. “I’ll have another look. He [Tierney] is pretty sore, I’ll see how he is for Thursday.” When asked who would step in to replace him with Marcelo Saracchi also unavailable, O’Neill responded: “Me, coming in there, comeback! We will probably have to just shift somebody over.” Celtic face FC Utrecht of the Eredevisie on Thursday night, knowing a win guarantees them a place in the next round of the Europa League, before turning their attention back to the league with the visit of Falkirk on Sunday.

Celtic have completed the signing of striker Tomas Cvancara from Bundesliga side Borussia Monchengladbach on loan, with an option to buy at the end of the season. The Czechia international had been tenuously linked with rivals Rangers online before reports emerged from Sky Germany that the hitman was headed for Glasgow’s East End instead. The Hoops have been in desperate need of a striker since the summer after selling Adam Idah on deadline day and replacing him with free agent Kelechi Iheanacho, who has spent most of his time at Parkhead injured. They were linked with former hitman Kyogo Furuhashi on a loan return from Birmingham City nearly exactly a year on from selling the Japanese forward to Stade Rennais, but the 31-year-old has stayed south to fight for his place. There was also reports that a loan enquiry for Leeds United man Joel Piroe were ‘laughed away’ due to the Elland Road side sharing investors with Rangers. Johnny Kenny and Daizen Maeda have shared spells through the middle for Celtic this season, but neither have had a consistent level of performance for any length of time this season, paving the way for Cvancara to make the position his own. Cvancara told club media: “It’s a massive honour to sign for this club. “I am so excited to get started and make my own contribution to the team. We have lots of challenges ahead of us and I am ready to get going and do everything I can to meet these and bring success to our brilliant supporters. “Celtic is one of the great names in world football and I am delighted to be here to play my part.” The 25-year-old has spent this season on loan at Turkish side Antalyaspor, scoring just once in eleven appearances this season in all competitions. He made the move to his parent club from Sparta Prague in 2023 for a reported fee of £9million, scoring eight times in 54 fixtures having played some games as a right-winger rather than through the middle. In his homeland with Sparta, Cvancara enjoyed the best spell of his career as he fired home 24 goals in 49 matches for the Czech capital side in an eighteen months spell from 2022-2023. He has represented his national side on eight occasions, scoring once in a 3-1 victory over Poland in Euro 2024 qualifying. Cvancara has also played at Celtic Park already, coming off the bench for Czech side Jablonec in a 3-0 second leg defeat in Europa League qualifying in 2021 at the beginning of Ange Postecoglou’s tenure as Celts’ boss. Celtic travel to Tynecastle to face league leaders Hearts this Sunday in a game which could have huge repercussions as to where the league trophy goes at the end of this season. Cvancara scored twice on his Monchengladbach debut, and could be in line to repeat the trick for the Glasgow side in a potential baptism of fire.

Celtic midfielder Benjamin Nygren conceded that the level of performance from himself and his teammates must improve in the final half of this season.  The Swede scored the only goal in a narrow 1-0 win away to Falkirk, bringing him up to ten for in the league campaign so far, only behind Hearts captain Lawrence Shankland. And the 24-year-old is aware of the importance of getting positive results at this time of year. He said: “We said in the dressing room before that we have to almost win every game now. “In the end, it’s about getting the three points. If you play a great game, you still get three points. Today we didn’t play our best game but we still got the three points and that’s the most important thing.” Falkirk had a series of chances in a game in which the home side dominated spells of. Nygren was quick to give John McGlynn’s side credit where it was due, but also feels Celtic must look inwards. “For sure, I can give Falkirk some credit, they played a good game, but I still think we should do a better performance. “But we didn’t, and we still ran a lot of metres and did pretty good defensively. “We all know we have to put in stronger performances to win football games, today was not good enough. “We cannot continue with performances like this, but today we got the win and we are pleased with that.” Nygren is averaging a goal less than every three games after converting his twelfth Celtic goal in 33 appearances, but the summer recruit insists that the team performing well is his priority. “I always want to do good individually, but it’s a team sport so the most important thing is for us to win the league, and be first in the league and we are not at the moment. “But you need to score goals to win games and I’ve always been a player that from a deeper position that is creating chances, and scoring goals and making assists in the final third and I want to continue.” Celtic are now six points behind leaders Hearts after they also won tonight, but Nygren believes that this Celtic squad can turn their fortunes around. “We have the team right now to turn it around. In a massive club like Celtic, you always need competition [amongst the players]. “We still play both Hearts and Rangers again so it’s still in our hands and we will do everything to turn it around.” Celtic travel to Rugby Park on Sunday afternoon to take on non-league Auchinleck Talbot in the Scottish Cup, before a week which sees them travel to Bologna in their penultimate Europa League league phase match on Thursday, and then to league leaders Hearts in a mouth-watering clash on Sunday.

Interim Celtic manager Martin O’Neill admitted that Falkirk were the better side despite losing 1-0 to the Northern Irishman’s side at The Falkirk Stadium. It is the second clean sheet in a row for the Parkhead club since the 73-year-old returned again on a temporary basis following the sacking of Wilfried Nancy, after eight games without a shutout during the Frenchman’s disastrous reign. However, O’Neill believes that Falkirk can be disappointed in failing to come away with any points from tonight’s defeat. He said: “We didn’t play well in the game. “We saw it through, and we can play much, much better. It just seems strange in the contrast where we were so good on Saturday [against Dundee United] and tentative tonight. “I think Falkirk would have found themselves really unlucky to be behind at half-time in the game. I thought we pressed a bit better in the second half, but overall we didn’t play well in the game.” Falkirk had three big chances in the first half, including an open goal miss from Kyrell Wilson, and then Kasper Schmeichel produced a massive save to deny Ethan Hamilton in the dying minutes of the second. O’Neill insists stronger performances will come. “I just thought, certainly in the first half, we were second best and we seemed devoid of that real energy that was necessary. “But obviously I am delighted to have won the game because we will play better. “The most important thing, I’ve said this often enough, is winning, tonight particularly, Hearts have won as well too and our margin of error is very small and we dropped a lot of points. “So winning tonight was the most important thing. We can play much better and we will” Falkirk are one of three Premiership sides who play on an artificial surface, but O’Neill was not prepared to use the pitch as an excuse for Celtic’s struggles today. “The circumstances today are totally different. We’re playing on an artificial surface. “I’ve no problem with that because they played pretty well on the artificial surface, or scored four goals anyway, against Livingston a couple weeks ago. “But things were different, and you have to adjust, you have to adapt, you have to do all of these things. It’s the nature of the game for the players, they have to dig in, and for that I’m eternally grateful.” Celtic have been linked with Croatian striker Franko Kovacevic from Slovenian side NK Celje, with the 26-year-old scoring 25 goals in 28 appearances so far this season. However, the Celtic manager remained coy on how far down the line a deal may be. “I’m probably sure I have done [looked at Kovacevic], I’ve only looked at about four and a half thousand at this minute! “You can tell a mile away we need to get a centre forward. Young Johnny Kenny has done really fine in the games but I think that’s really harsh to put that sort of pressure on a young lad.” Celtic are back in action this Sunday at Rugby Park as they face non-league Auchinleck Talbot in the Scottish Cup.