Celtic continue their 2024/25 Champions League campaign on Tuesday with a visit to last season’s beaten finalists Borussia Dortmund.
The Hoops defeated Slovan Bratislava 5-1 in their opening league phase match, but are expected to find things much tougher against the Bundesliga giants.
Celtic were defeated 3-1 on aggregate when they last faced Dortmund in the 1992/93 UEFA Cup, and 3-2 overall when they met in the same competition in 1987/88.
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Midfielder Callum McGregor has played a key role in Celtic’s positive start to the season and is eager to continue in the same vein when Celtic visit Dortmund.
He admits that the hectic schedule of domestic and European fixtures has the potential to be problematic, but believes the current squad has the quality to cope with the workload.
“To play at this club you need big mentality,” he said (h/t The Herald). “It’s not just skill or determination or desire. You have to have the mentality to go again every three days. Whoever you play wants to beat you.
“That’s the mark of a good Celtic player – being able to perform under pressure. Especially in this next run of games where you’re playing every three days. You’ve got to go again and find a way to win games that won’t always be pretty.
“We set out to be a team that wants to play football and dominate the game. But going into this period there will be leggy bodies at the end of it and you just have to find a way to win.”
European competitions have not been kind to Celtic in recent years, with the players struggling to cope with the step up in quality they face on the continental stage.
They finished bottom of their group in each of the last two seasons, but the revamped format for this year’s competition could work in their favour.
No one realistically expects Celtic to finish in the top eight at the end of the league phase, which would secure an automatic spot in the last-16.
However, finishing 9-24th is a realistic target and would put the Hoops into a two-legged play-off tie, giving them a chance to book a spot in the knockout stage of the competition.
McGregor believes it is imperative for the players to collectively ensure they are fully motivated for the difficult tests which await them in the Champions League.
“Less motivation is needed for the big games – probably less voice in terms of the senior players,” McGregor added.
“But our job is trying to prepare the team Monday to Friday so that we don’t get to that emergency point of someone needing to do something special to bring us out of a hole.
“Of course, the motivation element, for me especially and the senior players, is always important because at the end of the day you’re human beings. So, every now and again you need a ‘jag’ to get you going.
“But can you eliminate that part of it? At that point you’re doing a good job rather than having to keep intervening all the time and keep trying to find solutions to problems that arise. In my experience it’s about trying to encounter less problems. Then you’re doing a good job.”
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