Callum McGregor admits Celtic 'brought down to earth' by Motherwell as he issues Rangers semi final demands

Callum McGregor says Celtic’s blip against Motherwell is the kick up the backside they needed before their Scottish Cup semi-final clash with Rangers.

The Hoops skipper insists they will repay their fans at Hampden with an Old Firm performance after their Premiership slip-up McGregor & Co could only manage a 1-1 draw with the Steelmen. It’s the first time they’ve dropped points at home this season. But the captain is convinced that it will humble boss Ange Postecoglou ’s side and give them a jolt ahead of their Cup showdown.

He said: “Football can bring you back down to earth when you think you are doing well. That’s what it does. If you drop your standards, that’s what can happen. Hopefully come the end of next week, that’s what this will have been – just a blip. It’s one of those days when, if you ever think you are getting too far ahead of yourself, it refocuses the group.

“That’s what we need to do and it’s down to us. It was disappointing because the fans were excellent and stayed with us. We need to repay that next weekend.

“It’s a disappointment when we drop points at home as we want to be really dominant. We will look at the game and find the reasons why we didn’t quite get the job done. Then we will hammer home the principles that have got us where we are.”

McGregor opened the scoring for Celtic against Well but they were pegged back thanks to Kevin van Veen’s second-half equaliser. They’re still 13 points ahead at the top of the league and on course for a domestic Treble.

But McGregor says it’s imperative they recover quickly. He said: “We won’t make excuses. We came away from our structure a little bit and the review of the game will show that.

“It was just an off day in terms of our quality, This is