Celtic’s Callum McGregor shares what fans did against Aberdeen which helped players

Follow us on Google Discover

The Hoops are in the Scottish Cup final after seeing off their Scottish Premiership rivals at Hampden.

Celtic star Callum McGregor has shed light on a key period in Sunday’s Scottish Cup 3-0 semi-final triumph over Aberdeen in which he and his teammates could “hear the relief” and in turn felt the weight of pressure lift off their shoulders.

The Dons had been holding firm at Hampden Park until Dom Ball was dismissed for a second yellow card after his controversial clash of heads with Ryan Christie, and James Forrest scored in first-half stoppage time.

Neil Lennon’s side then added two goals in the space of 10 second-half minutes when Odsonne Edouard’s penalty on 61 minutes and a precise finish from substitute Tom Rogic in the 69th minute built up an insurmountable lead.

Celtic are seeking a treble treble and, having already claimed the Scottish League Cup and sitting 11 points clear at the top of the Scottish Premiership table with five games to go, it’s all going to plan.

As McGregor stated, it’s not without its moments of anxiety, but when the fans began feeling more relaxed later on in the game, the player admitted “you could hear the relief” around Hampden, which in turn helped the players out and meant they could also enjoy it.

“In semi-finals, it can go either way and whoever plays well on the day can win the game,” McGregor told the official Celtic website. “You understand that there’s a wee bit of nervousness in the crowd, but we just had to stay calm, play our game and focus on what we had been doing all week.

“Then, when the moments arrive, score the goals and that settles everyone down. I think you could see that in the middle period of the game. That’s when we got control, and you could hear the relief around the stadium, and then we all started to enjoy it.”

Celtic’s first post-split Premiership game is on Sunday 21 April away at Hibernian, while their last league encounter is at home against Hearts on Sunday 19 May, and the latter side will also be the Hoops’ Scottish Cup final opponent six days later.