Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou has given a typically frank but measured assessment of the club’s Champions League campaign after the Hoops’ European season ended early following Wednesday’s 1-1 draw with Shakhtar Donetsk.
Like much of their Group F campaign, Celtic offered plenty over two legs against the Ukrainian side, and will rue missed opportunities in the away game on Matchday 2 more than Wednesday’s home draw, which saw Giorgos Giakoumakis’ close-range opener cancelled out by a second Mykaylo Mudryk stunner against Postecoglou’s side in as many games.
The Aussie was philosophical about the campaign, conceding that whilst results had been disappointing, he believed that his team have shown enough to suggest that they can improve with regular participation.
As reported by The Herald, Postecoglou said: “I think we have been competitive in every game, but we also have to face the reality – we haven’t got what we wanted and we are disappointed in the outcome. There’s no point ignoring that fact.
“We were disappointed we drew the other night, which I think shows where our ambitions lie. We want to make an impact. We want to be a Champions League football club. Shakhtar have been in the Champions League for 10 or 11 years. I’m not sure why people didn’t expect them to be a strong team.
“If this was our fifth year in a row and we were falling short we’d be assessing things differently. But after a five year absence, the fact we have been competitive in every game, controlled matches at different times and created a lot of opportunities, that’s a base for us to keep growing from. That only happens if we get there again next year and the following year, and all the lessons we have learned can be put to good use.”
Postecoglou pointed to Mudryk’s marvellous equaliser for Shakhtar as the moment that Celtic need to learn from if they’re to compete at this level.
He said: “To be fair our defensive structure was poor as much as anything the other night, It was a quality goal from a quality player, but if you give a quality player space…
“It’s something we’ve seen at Champions League level. You have to be disciplined for the whole game. We lost concentration for a moment. It was our set piece and we were pushing for a second goal, and left ourselves open. Quality players with that kind of room will punish you.
“Again though. It’s kinda like you have to feel the pain of it to know you need to concentrate on the game at every single moment.”
Though results haven’t come in the Champions League for Celtic, they’ve shown an ability to compete in spells with some of Europe’s elite, and the Hoops haven’t embarrassed themselves on their long-awaited return to the competition.
Winning this season’s Premiership would give an instant return to the Champions League with a squad imbued with the experience of playing at such a high level, and with the opportunity to show that lessons have been learned from some harsh score-lines in Group F.
Postecoglou’s stance is to be expected, he’s never one for overreacting to results either positively or negatively, and it’s a fair bet that the Celtic squad won’t be downhearted over their lack of wins in the competition.
In other news: Regrets aplenty for club and player as former Celtic star could miss World Cup after exit
Receive a digest of our best Celtic content each week direct to your mailbox
