Ange Postecoglou accepts Celtic were not good enough against Bayer Leverkusen as goalkeeper Joe Hart voices frustration

Gutted Ange Postecoglou admitted his Celtic side were just not good enough as they conceded two late goals against Bayer Leverkusen to end their qualification hopes.

Despite falling behind to a Robert Andrich header in the early stages, the Hoops looked on course to secure their first ever win in Germany through Josip Juranovic’s exquisite penalty and Jota’s driven strike.

However, their poor game management proved costly as goals from Andrich and Moussa Diaby turned the game in the Bundesliga side’s favour.

Celtic will now drop into the Europa Conference League but Postecoglou applauded the effort of his players against what he described pre-match as a “Champions League team”.

He told Celtic TV: “It is a tough one to take. We hung in there and gave ourselves a chance to pull off a great result, but we just didn’t finish the game off as well as we could have.

“Credit to the players. Leverkusen are a fantastic team but we came to their own back yard and gave them a great game.

“We weren’t able to control the game like we wanted to, they have real quality in their side and they’re always a threat on the counter-attack.

“We had to be a bit wary about that and Joe (Hart) made some good saves, the back four worked really hard to keep us in the game but we just couldn’t hang on in the end.

“It’s disappointing for the players because they put in a massive effort but there is still a big gap between us and them that we need to breach.”

Postecoglou reckons his new-look side have competed well in every European tie they have played under his leadership but accepts there is still a lot of work to be done before they can match teams of Bayer Leverkusen’s calibre.

He added: “In all our European games this season, we’ve taken the game to some very good opponents.

“We know there is still a gap between us and the best teams in the competition but we will bridge that gap if we keep taking this approach whenever we play these teams.

“They beat us 4-0 at home and we gave them a bit of a fright here. Hopefully next time that gap is even smaller.

“I’m hoping in our fans disappointing tonight at least they walk away knowing the guys in the green and white hoops gave everything for them and gave them something to cheer about tonight.”

Hoops goalkeeper Joe Hart echoed the thoughts of his manager, insisting the squad need to learn how to manage games better on the European stage.

The former Manchester City and Tottenham No.1 produced a string of important saves to keep his side in the contest, including a tremendous double stop to deny Diaby and Amine Adli.

Hart stated: “Bayer Leverkusen are a really good team with pace and power. It’s a very frustrating result for us because over the two games I think we’ve matched them.

“We gave them a really tough game but ultimately we’ve fallen at the last hurdle. Credit to them for keeping their composure.

“There were loads of positives, of course but I think we’ve got to be real. We tried to create something where we’re not here just to take part but to really compete and we did that for in fragments.

“It’s very frustrating. We’re learning as a group and we feel like the supporters are behind us and we appreciate that but we can’t take that for granted.

“I’m old enough now not to come here and say we’re going to lose our minds over a loss. We’ll dust ourselves down but we have to learn and we will.

“We’ve got a good coaching staff and a manager who wants to create something and we’re all buying into it where we can be told where we could do better and improve.

“We really need to open our eyes, open our ears, we’re not getting a great opportunity to train with how it comes, so we’ve got to learn in the classroom.”