Brendan Rodgers believes Celtic can pose a threat in Germany as he challenged his squad to have "no regrets" after their 2-1 UEFA Champions League first leg play-off loss to Bayern Munich at Parkhead.
Michael Olise's stunning strike just before half-time gave Bayern the lead, capping off a dominant first-45 performance. He fired a powerful shot beyond Kasper Schmeichel after cutting in from the right.
And that was quickly added to after the interval as England captain Harry Kane found himself unmarked at the back post and volleyed in his 29th goal of the season.
Celtic looked a lot more threatening when Jota, Jeffrey Schlupp, and Hyun-Jun Yang were introduced, and that coincided with Daizen Maeda, who was initially going to be serving a suspension, being unleashed through the middle following Adam Idah's withdrawal.
Maeda flourished up there on his own and reduced arrears on 79 minutes, setting up a thrilling finale.
Celtic were unable to get another goal to earn a draw that they chased incredibly hard for. However, it does mean that there’s still all to play for when Rodgers' men visit the Allianz Arena in Munich next week.
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Speaking to TNT Sports, the Celtic boss said: "We get one more shot, it's a new level for a lot of the players. They've done absolutely great. So, we've got one more shot now in a wonderful arena, a fantastic pitch. Let's go over and have no regrets, and let's see where it takes us.
"It's still tight, the game's still in the balance and I think if you defend strong and compete, and then we've shown that we can actually play football and that we can be a threat. We are still right in the tie.
"I mentioned beforehand about staying alive and being in the game because with their quality and the number of goals that they can score then sometimes these can be out of sight. But it wasn't the case at all. We can find confidence from that last period and I'm looking forward already to next Tuesday."
Reflecting on Celtic's overall performance, Rodgers said: "We looked like we were going to get off to the perfect start, fantastic goal. Sadly it wasn't given. We had a couple of moments on the counter-attack, but my overriding feeling was that we were a little bit passive in our pressing, not identifying those moments of when to go and then you have to sit back that little bit deeper.
"We still feel, without doing so much with the ball, that we were still stable enough without it and then they get a bit of luck right on the stroke of half-time when the ball ricochets to young Michael [Olise] and he's obviously got great quality to finish.
"But for us, it was about being more aggressive. So, that was our mindset going into the second half and we then give away a goal and I said to the guys in there afterwards that the one player you don't leave unmarked is arguably the best striker in world football. Harry [Kane] finishes it really well. 2-0. Then we go and make the changes.
"I then thought the last 25 minutes we start to press the game and were more active at the top end of the pitch. You see what it brought. It brought an aggression and our football starts to come alive, and we get the goal. So, at 2-1, Bayern Munich are hanging on then."
