Brendan Rodgers insisted that the heartbreaking total defeat of Celtic against Bayern Munich was not what his party deserved.
Celtic was moments away from forcing extra-time in the Allianz Arena after he led through the second half of Nicolas Kuhn that aimed the draw.
But Alfonso Davies scored in the fourth minute of the stop time to hit the Scottish side in the cruelest ways and to undo what a brave display was by the underdogs.
The Celtic boss told Amazon Prime Video: “It was [a suckerpunch]Not what the players deserved at the end.
“They gave so much to the game.
“We did not shift too much, I felt that our concentration was good and denied them the space, and then we had some quality and great movements, and we actually had the best opportunities in the game I felt.
“A real heroic version, just a pity at the end.
“It was just such a cruel way not to even lose the game, but to go out of competition.”
Despite the loss of aggregated, their 1-1 draw at Bayern will perish as one of the best in the recent European history of Celtic and Rodgers, who returned his second spell to the club at the beginning of last season, be believes again competitive in Europe.
He added: “I think our European credibility has been restored this season, I think we have built that from last year, that is my collection meals of this season.”
They can leave Munich with their heads high 💚
What a performance of Celtic 👏#Uclonprime pic.twitter.com/7jwwastobm
– Amazon Prime Video Sport (@primeevideosport) February 18, 2025
McGregor: ‘Cruellest’ Night in a Celtic shirt
Captain Callum McGregor said that the late heartache was difficult to take, but praised the performance of his teammates to perform an almost perfect game plan.
He said to Prime Video Sport: “Probably one of the cruellest [results in a Celtic jersey]The performance of the players, they gave everything about everything and pushed a very good Bayern side completely.
“Sometimes football is cruel and you don’t get what you earn, but I have to say that it is me, so proud of the players and the way they played and handled themselves.
“We come without regrets that pitch. It is a real, real painful victory, but I think we can be proud of ourselves.
“It was set up for us to try to take the next one, and even if we had to go to extra time, we had ourselves too.
“I think someone who watches that football match tonight would see a really good Celtic team.”
