Celtic defender wants to win Premiership title

Defender Virgil van Dijk insists Celtic’s season will still be a success if they win the Scottish Premiership title.

Manager Ronny Deila had targeted the treble in his first season but that dream ended in controversial fashion with a 3-2 Scottish Cup semi-final defeat by Inverness on Sunday.

The Norwegian’s reign at Parkhead started with a disastrous Champions League qualifying campaign when Celtic were knocked out by both Legia Warsaw and Maribor.

However, the Hoops enjoyed an impressive Europa League campaign, won the League Cup for the first time in six years and now sit five points clear at the top of the table with a game in hand and a vastly superior goal difference. 

And Van Dijk is now looking to wrap up the title in style to get over his Hampden disappointment, starting with a visit to Dundee on Wednesday ahead of the post-season split.

"If we win the league we still improve from last year," Van Dijk said. "We want to win it as soon as possible and that starts on Wednesday.

'Professionals'

"The disappointment is very high, everybody is down but we are professionals and we need to focus on Dundee. We need to move on. Wednesday night at Dundee is a big game, so we need to be ready for that."

Celtic striker Leigh Griffiths accused the match officials of robbing his team of a cup final appearance after they failed to spot his goal-bound header being stopped by the hand of Inverness defender Josh Meekings when the Hoops were leading 1-0.

But Van Dijk refused to dwell on the blunder by referee Steven McLean and additional assistant Alan Muir, who was just yards from the action.

When asked about the penalty claim, the Dutch defender said: "It didn't happen so we can't talk about it. We look at our own performance and we lost and we are not on for the treble anymore.

"It should have been a key moment but it didn't happen so there is nothing to talk about. We lost and we are very disappointed.”