Callum McGregor convinced Celtic will ‘spark overnight’ and team ‘will fly’

Celtic captain Callum McGregor believes recent signings are quickly learning the demands of playing for the club as he vowed to keep working tirelessly to find their missing rhythm.

The Scottish champions’ 2-0 Europa League loss against Braga was a first defeat of the season outside of a penalty shoot-out, but it was the fifth time in 12 matches that Brendan Rodgers’ team had failed to score – the same tally as the whole of last season.

“Everybody has to understand the responsibility when they play for Celtic. Drawing games, losing games, is not good enough,” said McGregor, whose team trail Hearts in the William Hill Premiership ahead of Sunday’s visit of Motherwell.

“As much as you play well for parts of the game, it’s not what’s required. We have to win games of football and we have to play well. I think the guys are working that out quickly as well.

“Our job is to keep working hard, keep trying to implement what the manager’s asking us to do, try and get slicker in the football, get quicker and more efficient.

“Listen, I’ve been here long enough and I know what it takes to be successful. We’ll get there and it’s our job to make sure we do.”

Celtic had previously been involved in four goalless draws, two against Kairat Almaty in the Champions League play-offs, and against Rangers and Hibernian in the league.

“We’re still getting there in terms of the team and the fluidity and the connections,” McGregor said. “There’s a lot of new guys in the team as well, which takes time to build that level.

“When you’re getting draws and it’s not quite falling for you, it feels like key moments are going against you.

“We just have to ride it out, we have to keep working. That’s the one thing we will do, continue to work tirelessly on the training pitch to keep trying to nail it. Hopefully it will just spark overnight and we just have one game where everything drops and hopefully the team will fly from there.”

Celtic trailed at half-time against the Portuguese team after goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel failed to deal with a 35-yard strike. They were on the receiving end of a strange handball decision that denied Kelechi Iheanacho an equaliser before conceding a late second. The defeat leaves them on one point from their opening two games.

McGregor said: “The first half we gave ourselves a mountain to climb. We started the game OK then we lose the goal and that sort of rocks us until half-time. We spent so much time without the ball, when you get it, you can’t quite get yourself back into the game.

“The second half we changed that a little bit, got a little bit more aggressive in terms of positioning. For the majority of the second half we were good.

“We created some decent opportunities and we obviously get the goal disallowed for handball. It was a poor decision which came at a vital time in the game. If we scored that then I believe we would go on and win the game. It’s a tough one in that sense.

“The second half we did enough to get back in the game but I think overall we weren’t good enough on the night.

“We probably do OK in Belgrade and there were some big moments there but if we’re honest then it’s a poor start. Now we have to get going and we have to get enough points.”