Ange Postecoglou sees progress for Celtic after narrow defeat to Real Betis
Celtic were two up in Seville but conceded four goals inside 21 minutes on their way to a 4-3 defeat in their opening Europa League group game.
A "really proud'' Ange Postecoglou believes Celtic players showed they can play the type of football he aspires to despite a seven-goal thriller against Real Betis.
Celtic were two up in Seville but conceded four goals inside 21 minutes on their way to a 4-3 defeat in their opening Europa League group game.
An understrength Celtic, who were without the likes of Callum McGregor, James Forrest and Kyogo Furuhashi, went ahead through an Albian Ajeti goal and Josip Juranovic's penalty.
Jota could not take a good chance to extend the lead and Celtic's excellent start was undone by quickfire doubles either side of half-time with a central defence of Carl Starfelt and Cameron Carter-Vickers looking vulnerable.
Anthony Ralston's headed response came too late to allow Celtic to complete their own comeback but Postecoglou took plenty of positives from the game.
"I’m really proud of the team and the football we played" he said. “The opposition are a very good team, we’re away from home and the football was good, but they obviously have some quality and there were periods of the game where they got momentum and some big goals.
“On the other side of that, we had other opportunities to go further ahead, so it’s disappointing that the players didn’t get the rewards for the efforts they showed.
"You come to these games to measure yourself. You can come here and shy away from the fight and try to get a 0-0 draw, and you don’t really know how far away you are from beating quality opposition.
“We wanted to take the game to a good team tonight, and I don’t think there was much between the sides. They won, but there was an equal amount of chances for both sides for large parts.”