Callum McGregor was delighted with Celtic's hard-fought 0-0 draw against Atalanta in Italy last night (Wednesday), and hailed his teammates' bravery in the face of a top opponent.
The Serie A side clinched last season's UEFA Europa League, and while the Celtic captain said he and his peers had put the disappointment of Matchday Two's 7-1 loss to Borussia Dortmund (last season's UEFA Champions League runner-up) out of their heads, he did admit there could have been a lingering fear going into this game.
Read more:
- What Celtic need to do to qualify for Champions League knockouts
- How much have Celtic earned with Champions League draw?
There wasn't, and, while speaking to the BBC, the 31-year-old used Dortmund's 5-2 loss against Real Madrid this week – when Dortmund conceded five second half goals – to illustrate the high stands Europe's flagship competition demands.
"When you take a heavy defeat you can speak your way through it, but then when you get onto the pitch you've still got that feat a little bit from what happened previously," said McGregor. But that was totally gone and the performance was much more like we are, and hopefully [Dortmund] was an off night.
"A lot of things went against us that night, and you can even see in the competition Dortmund lose five goals in one half as well, and that's just the level that you're playing at and it punishes you so quickly.
"But to come here tonight off the back of that, the players were so brave in terms of the work against the ball, and good spells with the ball as well, maybe that last little bit was missing. But hopefully that'll come in time as well."
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