Callum McGregor: Celtic growing into 'ruthless' Champions League

RUTHLESS: Celtic's Callum McGregor (right) shakes hands with Giorgos Giakoumakis after the UEFA Champions League against Shakhtar Donetsk. Pic: Rafal Oleksiewicz/PA Wire

Captain Callum McGregor believes Celtic are growing into the "ruthless" Champions League competition and hopes to continue progressing against RB Leipzig on Wednesday night.

The Scottish champions put in a good performance against Real Madrid at Parkhead on matchday one in Group F - the Scotland midfielder hit the woodwork with a drive - before losing 3-0 to the holders and they may well have got more than the point they took from a 1-1 draw with Ukrainian side Shakhtar Donetsk in neutral Warsaw.

The German outfit lost their opening two matches but ahead of the first of the double-header against Marco Rose's side, McGregor noted there are "no easy games" in European club football's elite competition as he analysed the Hoops' progress.

The Celtic skipper said: "We need to continue to grow in the competition as a group.

"There's a lot of new players playing at this level for the first time and the guys have handled it really well so far.

"As a group we just continue to grow bit by bit and understand the game.

"It is really ruthless at this level. Teams take their chances and when you are on top in games you need to find that little bit of quality to get yourself ahead.

"We have started the campaign well, we have learned a lot already but we are a confident group and we think we can have a positive outcome.

"We know it will be a tough match. It is a really high-level opponent that we are up against and all we can do is prepare the game plan we think can win the game, be aggressive and try to implement our style.

"We have to take our chances when we get them and do a lot of things right defensively so we are looking forward to the game."