CALLUM McGregor today admitted his ambition is to establish himself as a Scotland regular alongside his Celtic team mates under new manager Alex McLeish now he has finally forced his way into the squad.

McGregor was continually overlooked by McLeish’s predecessor Gordon Strachan despite performing superbly for Brendan Rodger’s side on a consistent basis both domestically and in Europe.

The midfielder was omitted as his Parkhead team mates Stuart Armstrong, Scott Brown, James Forrest, Craig Gordon, Leigh Griffiths and Kieran Tierney all became indispensable starters during the Russia 2018 qualifying campaign.

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The 24-year-old was finally called up for the double header against Slovakia and Slovenia last year – but he wasn’t involved as the national team missed out on a World Cup play-off spot.

He made his Scotland debut in the friendly against the Netherlands at Pittodrie back in November - when SFA performance director Malky Mackay was in temporary charge.

And he also came on midway through the second half of McLeish’s first game back against Costa Rica at Hampden on Friday evening.

McGregor is widely expected to start against Hungary in the Groupama Arena here in Budapest tonight and he confessed he wants to do well enough for that to be the case in the Nations League matches later this year.

McGregor said: “It’s a massive opportunity. Any time you play for your country everyone is watching and you want to do yourself and your family proud.

“Certainly, it was positive when me and Stuart came on but you could see from the start of the second half the whole team lifted the performance.

“The manager spoke at half-time to lift the tempo and they did that and me and Stu added to that along with the other boys who came on and gave us a lift.

“With the way we play and press we can add to the tempo. We’ve got that way of working already, it’s ingrained in us, and the manager is trying to implement that here as well so helps when you have boys who play it every week.

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“I often spoke about how the next step was to try and get into the international set-up and it was important to get there.

“That’s the easy bit done - it’s about trying to stay here now and impress at this level. That is the next step again.”

He added: “It wasn’t nice to miss out when you see your team-mates going and playing with Scotland because as a young kid all you want to do is play for your country.

“There was a lot made of the fact there were so many Celtic players in the Scotland team and you’re the one not getting a chance to play international football.

“It was a frustrating time, but you have to knuckle down and prove to everyone you should be there. It was about playing well for Celtic and trying to get in the squad.

“You’ve got to look after your club performances. I’ve had a big year at Celtic with Brendan Rodgers taking my game to another level when he came in and it’s about trying to get that consistency.

“The next step is to take that into the international team. I’ve taken that step now and it’s important to show what I can do.”

McGregor stressed that he was delighted to see his Celtic team mates perform so well with Scotland last year – they didn’t lose a competitive fixture in 2017 – and had cheered them on from home during that time.

“I watched the games,” he said. “There were so many of our boys in the squad that you wanted to see them to do well, to see the team win.

“There was never any bad feeling, regardless of whether you felt you should be involved or whatever. You just want to play for your country one day and you keep working towards that. My goal was just to prove I was worth the chance.

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“There was a Celtic WhatsApp group chat during the England (when Griffiths scored two late goals) and I was part of that, but don’t think I wrote anything. I was watching the game with a pal and just sat there going: ‘Wow!’

“It was the kind of game it would have been great to be a part of and as a fan it must have been unbelievable to be there. That was what I wanted to be part of.”

McGregor’s mature approach both to the success he has enjoyed with Celtic and his perplexing omission from the Scotland squad reflects well both on his family and the upbringing he has received at the club he joined aged just seven.

“I came from a family that doesn’t believe in showing off what you’ve got, just a working class family who instilled humility,” he said.

“Every day in life, that was how my brother and I were brought up - when you do well, you have to be humble, that’s the important thing.

“So with that background I’ve never been very visual about these things. I try to do my talking on the pitch as much as possible.

“It’s like that at Celtic as well. When you come through and you get some success, you have to be humble. If you get ahead of yourself too quick you can be out the door, you’re not for a club like that. It’s a club built on humility.”

McGregor believes having Celtic legends like John Clark, the Lisbon Lion who played as Celtic became the first British club to lift the European Cup back in 1967, helps him and his team mates remain grounded despite their achievements.

“Guys like John are icons, real examples for every young guy to look up to,” he said.

“The social media stuff’s not something I look into at all, it’s just not in my personality. I’m here to play football, I’ve played it since I was really young and now it’s brought me the chance to play for my country. That’s all I need.

“You see some people on social media getting a bit carried away and it doesn’t do them any good, saying they’ve got this and they’ve got that. But my hope is to impress but showing how much talent I have.”