Celtic goalscorer Callum McGregor says Bayern-Munich game was ‘stepping stone in right direction’

CELTIC goalscorer Callum McGregor hopes to use Tuesday’s defeat to Bayern Munich as a “stepping stone” for future European adventures.

There were plenty of positives for the Hoops in the 2-1 defeat to the German champions, despite their now inevitable exit from the Champions League.

With just three points from four matches, progress from Group B is now impossible, but the attention turns to the Europa League, where Brendan Rodgers’ side will fancy their chances if they can replicate their latest Parkhead performance.

McGregor, who impressed on his first start in the group stages with a goal, feels they will take a lot of confidence from the match after shipping three goals in the reverse fixture in Munich.

“You want to test yourself against the best players,” he said. “Being a footballer, that’s where you want to play and learn as much as you can.

“In terms of the previous games, it feels like a stepping stone in the right direction.”

He added: “You can see we’re getting better with every game we play.

“We have a better tactical idea of what we’re trying to do in these big games and I think you saw that we can go toe to toe and really mix it with the big boys.

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“That’s what we did and that’s what we wanted to show, we were just unfortunate with the two goals.”

A misjudgement from Dedryck Boyata led to Kingsley Coman rounding Craig Gordon for the Bayern opener against the run of play, before McGregor finished coolly in the second half following good work from James Forrest.

Javi Martinez scored the winner moments after McGregor’s strike to leave the Bhoys contemplating a third-placed finish, although the 24-year-old is refusing to write off Anderlecht before they travel to Glasgow in December.

While admitting they were targeting the Europa League, McGregor said: “First of all we need to look after actually getting there. We know it will be a tough game when Anderlecht come here.

“We need to focus and if we get through then we’ll see who we get and take it from there.”