Darren O'Dea admits he is 'really proud' of every single one of his Celtic players after a battling performance against Real Madrid.
The Hoops rounded off their UEFA Youth League campaign with a 4-1 defeat to Los Blancos, with the home side hitting the back of the net after just TEN seconds. They doubled their lead with just eight minutes played but the youngsters found away back into the game through Adam Brooks before conceding a further two goals.
It's been a tournament that has been a 'fantastic learning experience' for the youngsters and it gives them all a taste of the level they aspire to reach further down the line in their careers and beyond in the senior ranks. Real sat top of the group and had yet to lose in the competition before this game - showing the real difficult task that Celtic faced in Spain.
READ MORE: Celtic lose out to Real Madrid in UEFA Youth League with Los Blancos scoring inside TEN seconds
O'Dea told Celtic's official website: “We are really proud of every one of the boys. The feelings they had, even the feelings we had on the bench, it can take your breath away at times and it’s about hanging in there against top opposition.
'They hung in there and the goal we scored was fantastic. It was just disappointing we conceded again before half-time, otherwise we could have tried to adjust things.'
“The fact of the matter is, these boys are use to having 70-80% of possession most of the time and today it was the opposite.
“We’ve started some games really poorly but one thing they’ll never do is give up and stop trying to do the things we want them to do."
He continued: “It was a very tough game. I think the overriding feeling is that this is the level these boys are aspiring to get to, and beyond.
“This is the UEFA Youth League, and there’s obviously a whole different level above it. It’s been a fantastic learning experience, just even coming here to these facilities and the prestige of the club.
“It caught them on the hop for the first 10 minutes in the game and it took time for us to settle down and when you do that at this level you get punished.”
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