Callum McGregor did not hold back in the aftermath of Celtic’s damaging 2-1 loss to Hibernian at Parkhead and his post-match comments carried a pointed edge as the title race took another dramatic twist.
With Hearts stretching their advantage at the summit following their weekend victory, Celtic’s stumble — coupled with a series of contentious officiating decisions — has intensified the pressure. And McGregor, clearly frustrated, made it known that his side still believe the race is far from over.
The Hoops captain watched his team suffer their seventh Premiership defeat of the season in a match overshadowed by debate surrounding Auston Trusty’s red card and the rejected penalty claim for Liam Scales. Those flashpoints proved pivotal, shifting momentum at a crucial stage of the contest.
While Derek McInnes’ Hearts capitalised elsewhere to open up a six-point gap, McGregor insisted Celtic remain firmly in the fight — but acknowledged the margin for error has vanished.
Speaking after the match, he said: “By far, we’re not out of the title race at all. We’ve put ourselves under pressure, we need to win some big games that are coming up.”
There was steel in his tone as he continued: “But that’s not beyond us, we’ve been doing that all season and we’ve been doing it for the last few years. So we have that experience in the bank. If both teams won I don’t think anybody would be saying there’s any change.”
Celtic now trail by six points, although they hold a game in hand heading into a decisive run of fixtures — starting with the looming Glasgow Derby. McGregor conceded the challenge is steep but framed it as one the squad are more than capable of handling.
“The league is competitive, the top four, five, six teams are all good teams. And like I said, we’ve put ourselves under pressure to win some big games that normally you can afford draws here and there,” he said.
“But I think now we have to pretty much win every game. But there will be twists and turns, so the one thing for sure is that we have to stick together.”
There was no disguising the frustration, particularly with the officiating controversies that shaped the outcome at Parkhead. Yet McGregor’s message was clear: Celtic are wounded, not beaten.
“I know there’ll be a lot of anger and disappointment, but we’re a long way from home. We have to keep going, we have to keep fighting and we will do that.”
With Hearts now setting the pace under McInnes, the battle lines are drawn. Celtic’s margin for error has evaporated — and if McGregor’s fired-up response is anything to go by, the champions are preparing to respond.