Captain's pride as players produce a top performance to book UCL play-off place | OneFootball

Callum McGregor once again produced a top-class performance on the European stage as he led Celtic to a 1-0 victory over YB Bern, a victory which also secured a place in the play-off round of the UEFA Champions League.

On what was his 101st European performance for the club, the Hoops captain was at the heart of a dominant performance over their Swiss opponents, particularly in a first-half which saw three disallowed goals and a missed penalty amongst a raft of other chances.

The decisive goal came with just five minutes remaining, when Adam Idah’s initial blocked effort was then bundled into the net by YB Basel captain, Loris Benito.

It was a well-deserved goal and victory, and McGregor praised his team-mates’ efforts after the game.

Speaking to Celtic TV, he said: “I’m so proud of all the boys. It was a fantastic effort right up to this point.

“I thought we were excellent, especially in the first half. We had three goals disallowed, which showed our authority in the game, and I thought we were well on top at that point.

“The game changed a little bit in the second half, which you expect, but credit to the boys.

"They stuck with the task and stayed in the game, and we knew the momentum would change again at some point, and we’d get a chance.

“So I’m really proud of the boys, it’s brilliant for the club to be involved in knockout football again, and we’ve obviously one more game to go against Aston Villa to see where we can end up.”

Celtic currently sit 18th in the league-phase table, guaranteeing them a play-off place with one game to spare – next week’s away tie against Aston Villa.

That achievement has come after three wins, three draws and just one defeat from their seven fixtures, and represents impressive progress from Brendan Rodgers’ side on the European stage.

The aim now is to complete this stage of the competition with a positive result next week and then aim to progress even further.

“There’s a real belief and a confidence about the players that we belong at this level and we trust ourselves at this level, and when you get results it just reaffirms everything,” McGregor said.

“It’s a fantastic result, a fantastic performance and I’m really proud of the players.

“That’s the next challenge for the group. Next week we go against a big club who’ve done really well with a manager who’s synonymous with European football, so it will be a brilliant task and a brilliant learning curve for us, so let’s go there and play our football and see what happens.”

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