ANGE POSTECOGLOU insists Celtic's missed opportunities cost them in their Champions League place.
The Hoops officially exited the competition after a 2-0 defeat at the hands of RB Leipzig on Tuesday night.
During the first-half in particular, the Scottish champions spurned several good chances to net.
However, with a combination of poor finishing and decent saves from the Leipzig keeper, the story of Celtic's Group F campaign continued.
Postecoglou rued those missed golden opportunities. He said: "Yeah, the emotions are disappointment.
"Disappointed for supporters, disappointed for the lads to lose a game we were well in but [it's been] the story of our campaign so far - missed chances have cost us.
"It's difficult, we are talking about the highest level of club football and there are those different sorts of stresses and anxieties around taking your chances at this level and that's why clubs spend hundreds of millions trying to solve that problem.
"But, from our perspective, all we can do is keep sort of putting our players in those situations and I'm sure they'll learn from it and develop from that. But when you're at this level, you pay the ultimate price if you don't take them.
"We've tried to take the game to the opposition and tried to match the opposition in all aspects and we've come away with nothing again, unfortunately.
"I can't fault the players' endeavour or their application - and they're disappointed too because they know we had some opportunities tonight to get the result we wanted and we didn't take them.
"You've just got to keep persevering. It's understandable if our supporters are disappointed - we're disappointed - but you're not going to progress or improve by walking away from what you are trying to build."
Meanwhile, the Hoops gaffer did end on a positive note.
Liel Abada's injury is not thought to be a serious one. Postecoglou put the 21-year-old's withdrawal from the game down to a dead leg.
