Callum McGregor addresses Rangers claim, snub and speaks on his new Celtic record

“It’s not a bad record, is it?!” Callum McGregor was doing himself a disservice after being reminded of a final record which can only be described as exemplary, one that would be the envy of footballers across the world.

The Celtic captain picked up his 15th winners’ medal from 15 final appearances following the 2-1 success over Rangers in the Viaplay Cup final. If asked to rank those victories, you would think McGregor would require plenty of time to ruminate but he described his latest as “up there as one of the sweetest”.

“When you get to finals you are desperate to win," he said. “Throw in to them that it’s Rangers and it goes up another notch.”

The pot was stirred ahead of the game, not that such a fixture required it, by Fashion Sakala who made some bold claims regarding the quality of the respective side. The Rangers forward understandably felt his team were better but he really hammered home the point. “We are better than them, so much better." Don't back down, double down. “I think we are such a better club," he said again. “A far better club.”

Celtic’s answer was on the field, not in the press.

“More often than not you hear these comments coming out before big games but it’s important for us to block it out," McGregor said. “You can’t affect what anyone else is saying or doing. The gaffer said it during the week – we only listen to ourselves. The only voices we need are our own and his. We continue to push each other and do our talking on the pitch when it matters.

“Good teams win trophies and they win them consistently. That’s the be all and end all in football."

‘Someone tells us to stop’

Callum McGregor won yet another final at Hampden Park with Celtic. (Photo by Alan Harvey / SNS Group)

As for the Rangers players and coaching staff making themselves scarce, only two weeks on from showing such sportsmanship against Partick Thistle, it would not have gone unnoticed.

“I don’t want to talk about that,” McGregor said. “We are just happy we won the cup and we did it in our style and the way we wanted to play the game. We leave what other clubs to them. We can’t affect it. I just think it’s important to be humble when you win and show that humility. You do the same when you lose and the next time you try to put it right. That’s all you can do in football.”

That trophy is the first of what could be a treble for Celtic, even if “we don’t talk about it” is the message coming out of the team. Yet, such a victory against rivals was a statement.

“It was excellent for us to really turn up in a showpiece game and play like we did," McGregor said. “That was maybe the next stage of our development. Come here and really take the game to them. For an hour we were outstanding. I don’t think they won the ball back once in the press. That tells you how good we were and we could maybe have been up two or three at half time if we were a bit more clinical.”

He added: “We’ll get back to work and keep driving it home until someone tells us to stop.”