Celtic goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel made an impressive nine saves, doing everything possible to ensure his side did not exit the UEFA Champions League without a fight.
The veteran Denmark international was on the verge of a memorable clean sheet in the knockout stage play-off second leg at Bayern Munich’s Allianz Arena. However, substitute Alphonso Davies struck in the dying moments of the match, cancelling out Nicolas Kuhn's earlier opener and securing Bayern's place in the last-16.
Just six days prior, Bayern had triumphed 2-1 in Glasgow, but it was Celtic who appeared the more threatening side during the first half. Schmeichel had little to contend with, even with England captain Harry Kane fit to start for Bayern.
The intensity increased in the second half, especially after Kuhn put the traveling support of 3,000 into dreamland with a goal in the 63rd minute. From that point on, Bayern ramped up their attacks, frequently testing Schmeichel's resolve.
And it looked like all their efforts into the box weren't going to come to anything until Michael Olise delivered a cross that Leon Goretzka connected with cleanly, but his header was expertly stopped by Schmeichel.
The ball then fell in front of the open goal, and Cameron Carter-Vickers' effort to clear it was intercepted by Davies, who managed to push it over the line, breaking Celtic's hearts.
Asked to describe his overriding emotions following Celtic's Champions League exit, Schmeichel told Amazon Prime Sport: “Frustration, disappointment, I thought it was a heroic performance, very brave.
“Football is a cruel game sometimes, that’s the emotion at the moment.
“I was loving every minute so another 30 minutes would have been amazing. But it just wasn't to be.
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“Right now, there’s just so much disappointment. But I think when we take a step back in the next few days and analyse the fact we've gone away to Bayern and are disappointed in drawing the game. I think that says a lot when you think of where we started the competition to where we got to.
“It tells a lot about the group and the journey that we've been on, and it will stand us in good stead for the future.
"We've shown that we're a good football team. We've shown that we are a team that have learned from our mistakes, we've come a long way. Like I said, I think it will all stand us in good stead for the future."
Looking back at the tournament as a whole and the highs and lows that have come with it, Schmeichel said: “If you look at our journey, we start it with a 5-1 win, which was amazing. Then we go and get beat 7-1 then you have to go to Atalanta away, who were free-scoring, and we kept them from scoring. That was another good one from ourselves.
"We've constantly evolved, we've constantly learned, and I think that's the most important thing for the future because we’ve got a lot of young players in there that haven't played at this stage, at this level, with this kind of pressure. It’s a tough learning curve but in the long run it will probably be a good one.”
