Latest news with #DimitarMitov
Daily Record
04-07-2025
- Sport
- Daily Record
Dimitar Mitov reignites long-lost Aberdeen connection as 1994 World Cup star beams at Scottish Cup heroics
The shot-stopper is the first Bulgarian national to play for the Dons in a quarter of a century Prior to Scottish Cup hero Dimitar Mitov's arrival last summer, it had been 25 years since a Bulgarian player had last pulled on the colours of Aberdeen. Tsanko Tsvetanov and Ilyan Kiryakov both arrived in the Granite City in the summer of 1996 shortly after representing their country at the European Championships in England. Two years earlier, the duo had starred alongside Barcelona icon Hristo Stoichkov in Bulgaria's memorable run to the semi-finals of the USA 1994 World Cup. In the group stage, Bulgaria downed an Argentina team 2-0 that featured ex Rangers and Dundee forward Claudio Caniggia, Atletico Madrid boss Diego Simeone and goal machine Gabriel Batistuta, despite Tsvetanov getting sent off. After eding out Mexico on penalties in the last 16 they then bested Franz Beckenbauer's reigning champions Germany before bowing out to runners' up Italy courtesy of two goals from Azzuri god Roberto Baggio. And in an exclusive interview with Record Sport, one of pair from the former Communist state says he was delighted to see the stopper reignite that long-lost link by helping Jimmy Thelin's side down Celtic on penalties to lift the cup for the first time since 1990. Former defender/midfielder Tsvetanov - who made 49 appearances for the Reds between 1996 and 1998 - quipped: "They won the cup because of the Bulgarian connection! I am so happy for him." Mitov has won 11 caps for his country so far since making his debut in September 2023 during his lone season at St Johnstone. And while he has never met Pittodrie's Bulgarian flagbearer, he is hopeful that his compatriot will stand between the posts for the national team for years to come. "It's a bit early to say but I believe he is going to be the number one for the national team. I don't know him too well because he has grown up in Britain and Scotland. "I hope he can do well because at this time Bulgarian football is not at its best. But I hope this guy can help Bulgaria with his experience to come back to the good times." The Balkan nation have not qualified for a major tournament since the European Championships in 2004, with their last appearance at the World Cup finals coming six years earlier in France 98. Bulgaria have been dealt a tough hand in their bid to reach the finals in North America last year, having been drawn against reigning European champions Spain as well as Turkey and Georgia. But Tsvetatov, a former three-time league champion with Levski Sofia who won 40 caps for his country between 1991 and 1996, has dared the current team to dream. "On paper it is very hard", he admitted. "But football is not played on paper, football is played on the pitch. So if you don't believe, don't go on the pitch to play. "Football is a game of hope and you always have a chance."
Leader Live
02-07-2025
- Sport
- Leader Live
Callum McGregor says cup final agony will ‘fuel the fire' for more Celtic glory
The Hoops skipper endured what he described afterwards as 'the worst moment I've ever had in football' in the Scottish Cup final in May after his penalty was saved by Aberdeen keeper Dimitar Mitov in a surprise shootout defeat that denied Brendan Rodgers' side a domestic treble. More than five weeks on from his Hampden agony, McGregor is revitalised, refocused and 'hungry' to lead Celtic towards more silverware. 'It was a tough moment, there's no shying away from that,' the 32-year-old said in a press conference to promote his team's pre-season friendly away to Cork on July 8. 'I think what that does is it just gives you more motivation to go and achieve even more. 'It's the ones that you don't win that stay with you and fuel the fire for you, so I had a couple of weeks off to digest it and try and find a positive somewhere in it. 'All it does is it makes me even more hungry to go and be successful and to win even more. 'I've been here a long time, there's highs, there's lows and you have to try and find an even keel and keep yourself in a nice balanced headspace. 'There's been ups and downs throughout my career and I've always managed to bounce back so I don't see this being any different.' In his first summer since announcing his retirement from Scotland duty, McGregor has enjoyed having extra time to 'decompress' between seasons. 'Obviously this was a longer summer than what I've had previously so to not have international duty, you can spend a bit more time with your family and just decompress a little bit,' he said. 'It just gives that freshness for when you come back in and hopefully that will help me through another season in which we'll probably have 60-plus games.' After qualifying automatically for the Champions League in each of the previous three seasons, Celtic – who reached the knockout phase last term – will have to come through a play-off round in August to reach the main phase of the tournament due to a drop in Scotland's position in UEFA's association ranking for the five-year period from the 2019-20 to 2023-24 campaigns. 'Of course, if we had our way then we would want to be straight in but we have to understand that that is just part and parcel of it,' McGregor said. 'We've been here a number of times throughout the years. We believe that when we've been in the competition, especially last season, we've done well but no-one has the God-given right to be put in there right away. 'You have to earn your place. For the play-off games, there'll be five or six, seven or eight teams who all think they're good enough to be there but you have to earn the right. 'It's an amazing competition and I think we saw great growth in the team last season throughout the 10 games to the point there where we went away to Bayern Munich and were so close to getting a result. 'That should stand us in good stead but I don't want to take anything for granted so let's get in there first and hopefully we can have a similar campaign and even improve on that as well.'
Rhyl Journal
02-07-2025
- Sport
- Rhyl Journal
Callum McGregor says cup final agony will ‘fuel the fire' for more Celtic glory
The Hoops skipper endured what he described afterwards as 'the worst moment I've ever had in football' in the Scottish Cup final in May after his penalty was saved by Aberdeen keeper Dimitar Mitov in a surprise shootout defeat that denied Brendan Rodgers' side a domestic treble. More than five weeks on from his Hampden agony, McGregor is revitalised, refocused and 'hungry' to lead Celtic towards more silverware. 'It was a tough moment, there's no shying away from that,' the 32-year-old said in a press conference to promote his team's pre-season friendly away to Cork on July 8. 'I think what that does is it just gives you more motivation to go and achieve even more. 'It's the ones that you don't win that stay with you and fuel the fire for you, so I had a couple of weeks off to digest it and try and find a positive somewhere in it. 'All it does is it makes me even more hungry to go and be successful and to win even more. 'I've been here a long time, there's highs, there's lows and you have to try and find an even keel and keep yourself in a nice balanced headspace. 'There's been ups and downs throughout my career and I've always managed to bounce back so I don't see this being any different.' In his first summer since announcing his retirement from Scotland duty, McGregor has enjoyed having extra time to 'decompress' between seasons. 'Obviously this was a longer summer than what I've had previously so to not have international duty, you can spend a bit more time with your family and just decompress a little bit,' he said. 'It just gives that freshness for when you come back in and hopefully that will help me through another season in which we'll probably have 60-plus games.' After qualifying automatically for the Champions League in each of the previous three seasons, Celtic – who reached the knockout phase last term – will have to come through a play-off round in August to reach the main phase of the tournament due to a drop in Scotland's position in UEFA's association ranking for the five-year period from the 2019-20 to 2023-24 campaigns. 'Of course, if we had our way then we would want to be straight in but we have to understand that that is just part and parcel of it,' McGregor said. 'We've been here a number of times throughout the years. We believe that when we've been in the competition, especially last season, we've done well but no-one has the God-given right to be put in there right away. 'You have to earn your place. For the play-off games, there'll be five or six, seven or eight teams who all think they're good enough to be there but you have to earn the right. 'It's an amazing competition and I think we saw great growth in the team last season throughout the 10 games to the point there where we went away to Bayern Munich and were so close to getting a result. 'That should stand us in good stead but I don't want to take anything for granted so let's get in there first and hopefully we can have a similar campaign and even improve on that as well.'
North Wales Chronicle
02-07-2025
- Sport
- North Wales Chronicle
Callum McGregor says cup final agony will ‘fuel the fire' for more Celtic glory
The Hoops skipper endured what he described afterwards as 'the worst moment I've ever had in football' in the Scottish Cup final in May after his penalty was saved by Aberdeen keeper Dimitar Mitov in a surprise shootout defeat that denied Brendan Rodgers' side a domestic treble. More than five weeks on from his Hampden agony, McGregor is revitalised, refocused and 'hungry' to lead Celtic towards more silverware. 'It was a tough moment, there's no shying away from that,' the 32-year-old said in a press conference to promote his team's pre-season friendly away to Cork on July 8. 'I think what that does is it just gives you more motivation to go and achieve even more. 'It's the ones that you don't win that stay with you and fuel the fire for you, so I had a couple of weeks off to digest it and try and find a positive somewhere in it. 'All it does is it makes me even more hungry to go and be successful and to win even more. 'I've been here a long time, there's highs, there's lows and you have to try and find an even keel and keep yourself in a nice balanced headspace. 'There's been ups and downs throughout my career and I've always managed to bounce back so I don't see this being any different.' In his first summer since announcing his retirement from Scotland duty, McGregor has enjoyed having extra time to 'decompress' between seasons. 'Obviously this was a longer summer than what I've had previously so to not have international duty, you can spend a bit more time with your family and just decompress a little bit,' he said. 'It just gives that freshness for when you come back in and hopefully that will help me through another season in which we'll probably have 60-plus games.' After qualifying automatically for the Champions League in each of the previous three seasons, Celtic – who reached the knockout phase last term – will have to come through a play-off round in August to reach the main phase of the tournament due to a drop in Scotland's position in UEFA's association ranking for the five-year period from the 2019-20 to 2023-24 campaigns. 'Of course, if we had our way then we would want to be straight in but we have to understand that that is just part and parcel of it,' McGregor said. 'We've been here a number of times throughout the years. We believe that when we've been in the competition, especially last season, we've done well but no-one has the God-given right to be put in there right away. 'You have to earn your place. For the play-off games, there'll be five or six, seven or eight teams who all think they're good enough to be there but you have to earn the right. 'It's an amazing competition and I think we saw great growth in the team last season throughout the 10 games to the point there where we went away to Bayern Munich and were so close to getting a result. 'That should stand us in good stead but I don't want to take anything for granted so let's get in there first and hopefully we can have a similar campaign and even improve on that as well.'
BBC News
02-07-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Final defeat will 'fuel fire' for more Celtic success
Captain Callum McGregor will use May's painful Scottish Cup final defeat to "fuel the fire" for more success with former Scotland midfielder endured what he described as "the worst moment I've ever had in football" after his penalty was saved by Aberdeen keeper Dimitar Mitov in a surprise shootout defeat to the than five weeks on from his Hampden agony, McGregor is revitalised, refocused and "hungry" to lead Celtic towards more silverware."It was a tough moment, there's no shying away from that," the 32-year-old said. "I think what that does is it gives you more motivation to go and achieve even more."It's the ones you don't win that stay with you and fuel the fire for you, so I had a couple of weeks off to digest it and try and find a positive somewhere in it."I've been here a long time, there's highs, there's lows and you have to try and find an even keel and keep yourself in a nice balanced headspace."There's been ups and downs throughout my career and I've always managed to bounce back, so I don't see this being any different."
