Celtic captain Callum McGregor vowed to use his “worst moment in football” as fuel to come back stronger after he broke down in tears following a Hampden penalty shoot-out defeat against Aberdeen.
Aberdeen goalkeeper Dimitar Mitov saved as McGregor took the first penalty before sealing his club’s first Scottish Cup triumph in 35 years when he denied Alistair Johnston to secure a 4-3 win.
Celtic were heading for a sixth treble in nine years following Alfie Dorrington’s own goal but Kasper Schmeichel scooped a low cross into his own net in the 83rd minute and Aberdeen held on for a 1-1 draw after extra time.
McGregor had never lost a cup final and his pain was evident after missing out on a 25th winners’ medal.
When asked how difficult a moment it was, the 31-year-old said: “The worst. The worst moment I’ve ever had in football. It’s a real sore one.
“I’ll just need to go away and try and get over it and come back next year and be stronger.
“We didn’t do enough in the game to deserve it and then when you get to penalties it’s a bit of a lottery. The last few times we’ve come out on the right side of it and today we didn’t.
“It’s a real sore way to finish the season. Up until this point it’s been an amazing season. We just didn’t do enough to cap it off.”
McGregor and his team-mates stayed behind to clap their opponents after collecting their losers’ medals.
“You have to stand and watch that,” he said. “It’s where you want to be. We’ve been lucky that we haven’t had it too many times. When you see that, it’s so raw, it’s so hurtful.
“So you have to use that as fuel when you come back and try and never be in that position again.
“Listen, I’ve bounced back from difficult situations before. It will take me a while to get over it but once the new season starts, that’s up to me to show everyone that you’ve got a bit of steel.
“We’re so used to winning that when you don’t, you feel it 10 times more.
“For sure, there’ll be learning in that, it’s just so raw at the minute. But for sure, the group can learn from it, can be better for it because sometimes you have to go through a wee bit of adversity to grow and get better.”
Manager Brendan Rodgers consoled McGregor as the tears flowed.
“He just said it can happen to anyone,” the midfielder said. “It’s obviously a personal moment but the gist of it was to ‘keep your head up and you’ve done so much for the club and had so much success for the club’. He’s obviously just to be there for you in that moment.”
McGregor added: “I think, take away today, it’s been an amazing season up until this point. When it’s the last day and it doesn’t go your way then the whole thing feels like it’s pointless. That’s because we’ve been so good, we’ve managed to come to these moments and get through them.
“It’s just a wee reminder that you have to earn it and we didn’t earn it today. We didn’t do enough in the top half of the pitch to really open them up and take our chances.”
