Brendan Rodgers has revealed the two messages he relayed to his players after Celtic lost to Bayern Munich in the Champions League.
Well, the Hoops were defeated 3-2 on aggregate but actually earned a fantastic 1-1 draw on Tuesday night at the Allianz Arena.
Of course, it wasn’t enough to progress to the last 16 of the Champions League but Rodgers was proud of his heroic Celts for their bravery and quality on the night.
Chris Sutton felt ‘sick’ for the players after seeing Alphonso Davies bundle in that excruciating 94th-minute goal to send Bayern through.
While Alan Shearer thought Celtic were put out in cruel fashion and believes the Hoops would have progressed if they had a clinical striker on the field.
Rodgers’ double message to his Celtic stars
The dust is beginning to settle on the Champions League campaign and Rodgers will now turn his attention to the Premiership and Scottish Cup.
Celtic face Hibs at Easter Road on Saturday with Rodgers facing the press on Friday to preview the game, but also to deliver his final thoughts on the Bayern second leg.
The Northern Irishman revealed to reporters that relayed two things to his Celtic players in the bowels of the Allianz Arena after the 3-2 aggregate loss.
Firstly, that the performance in Munich proves how far Celtic have come since Rodgers was appointed as Parkhead manager for a second time.
And two, despite the heartache of going out in the manner they did, Celtic can still look forward to completing a domestic Treble come May.
Rodgers said: “I think everyone knows you can’t take away what Bayern Munich are. They are a European giant, probably one of the top five clubs in the world.
“Everyone who was there would have felt the arena and the atmosphere and everything and what you have to cope with.
“For us then to go and play to that level and be so close, it’s a huge testament to the players and how they have worked.
“I said after the game to the players that it’s a real sign of how we’ve developed. That we’re sat in here at this stage of this competition against a club of this magnitude and we’re really disappointed.
“But I said that to come and perform that well, we must draw the positives on that. Now we look forward and we’ve got two titles more to play for back home and we’ve got a few months to go.
“So let’s finish off on what can be an absolutely brilliant campaign for us.”
The domestic motivation for Celtic after Champions League exit
Celtic fans will still feel the hurt of losing to Bayern Munich in the way they did on Tuesday night, there’s no doubting that.
But like Rodgers says, that will pass and the focus will swiftly turn to the very real prospect of sweeping up every major domestic honour in Scotland.
Celtic are 13 points clear at the top of the league with 12 games remaining, while they play Hibs in the Scottish Cup quarter-finals at Parkhead.
| Position | Team | Played MP | Won W | Drawn D | Lost L | For GF | Against GA | Diff GD | Points Pts |
| 1 |  CelticCeltic | 26 | 22 | 3 | 1 | 76 | 12 | 64 | 69 |
| 2 |  RangersRangers | 26 | 17 | 5 | 4 | 54 | 20 | 34 | 56 |
| 3 |  AberdeenAberdeen | 26 | 11 | 5 | 10 | 34 | 39 | -5 | 38 |
| 4 |  Dundee UtdDundee Utd | 26 | 10 | 7 | 9 | 32 | 31 | 1 | 37 |
It would be Celtic’s ninth domestic Treble and Rodgers’ second if the feat were to be completed. That would tie him level with Celtic’s greatest ever manager Jock Stein.
The Bayern disappointment will soon be forgotten about come May.
Receive a digest of our best Celtic content each week direct to your mailbox
