Celtic enter attack mode vs Aston Villa as playoff seeding on the brain of dressing room VIP

Callum McGregor insists Celtic will have no fears going to Villa Park and beyond – because the Hoops have proved they are Champions League class.

The skipper was beaming with pride as the Parkhead men sealed their main objective of a spot in the knockout stages among Europe’s big guns. Wednesday night’s 1-0 win against Young Boys might have left a few fingernails chewed to the bone, but it was a deserved victory and a merited award from a campaign where the Celts have finally come of age on the main stage.

Fans would have been worried after the drubbing by Borussia Dortmund. Shipping seven to the Germans could easily have shaken the squad to the core and emptied any sense of belief. But Brendan Rodgers’ men refused to roll over. The recovery against Atalanta was admirable, the performance in the win against RB Leipzig was off the charts and the maturity shown in the clashes with Club Brugge, Dinamo Zagreb and Young Boys was a textbook example of getting the job done.

And now it’s Aston Villa – with progress already in the bag. The stakes could be higher for the English Premier League big hitters. Unai Emery’s side have already booked their place in the next round but have an opportunity to bypass this stage and go straight to the last 16 with a top eight finish in this new fangled 36-team group set up.

It’s more of a free punch for Celtic, but McGregor doesn’t see it that way. He’s going all out to finish with a flourish – and perhaps even sneak into the top section as well.

It will need about eight other results to fall their way, but you can’t win the raffle if you don’t buy a ticket. And McGregor is convinced Celtic will be heading to Birmingham bursting with belief.

The skipper said: “There's been a real