Ange Postecoglou insists consistently competing in the Champions League is the only way Celtic will be able to improve against the cream of the continent after crashing out of Europe altogether as they again failed to get a win in Group F.
The Hoops were held to a 1-1 draw at home to Shakhtar Donetsk as their hopes of dropping into the Europa League were ended with a game to spare. It was the first time in five years the Hoops had been in the competition and it’s almost a decade since they won at home in the Champions League group stage.
Giorgos Giakoumakis fired Celtic in front as they looked to secure their first group stage victory but they were pegged back after a wonderful solo goal from Shakhtar boy wonder Mykhaylo Mudryk. And there was a huge let off when Danlyo Sikan missed an open goal from close range, again after great work from Mudryk. But Celtic were again left wondering what might have been as they failed to get that first home victory in the Champions League in almost a decade.
The Scottish champions now travel to Spain to face holders Real Madrid for a dead rubber final fixture and Postecoglou insists they will learn lessons from this season. He said: “It’s just experience and continuing to play at this level. That’s all it is. There’s no magic formula. It’s just experience and continually striving to improve. The boys are in there disappointed, they’re flat and that shows where our ambitions lay.
“We want to make an impact in this competition but it’s our first time in five years and we’ve fallen short. These areas we’ve fallen short in we need to improve. It’s not anything that can happen very quickly. We want to be a Champions League football club and that only happens with continual presence in this competition.
“I said before there hasn’t been a game we haven’t been competitive in. That’s where you measure it. If we’d been outplayed in every game it would be easier to say we need to do a lot of work but in every game we’ve been in it and moments have cost us.
“We have to be in this competition every year if we really want to make an impact. You can’t go five years without being in it and then come in and expect to make an impact at this level. That’s our challenge, that’s what I mean about becoming a Champions League football club. We need to be there every year.”
On the match, he said: “It was a tight game, a typical Champions League game with a lot on the line for both clubs. We go in front and I thought we were pretty much in control, then we got caught on the counter. We have a chance with Kyogo, we miss. They have a chance, they miss. It was just a tight, typical Champions League and unfortunately we're disappointed we couldn't get the result we wanted.”
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