Gutted Brendan Rodgers details one thing he ‘won’t forget’ about Celtic’s galling Lazio defeat

Gutted Brendan Rodgers admitted that Celtic’s last-gasp 2-1 defeat to Lazio was a bitter pill to swallow after his side had impressed for large spells in their second Champions Leagueg group stage match.

The Hoops suffered late heartache against the Serie A outfit when former Barcelona striker Pedro headed home a 96th-minute winner, with the home side also seeing a Luis Palma’s strike nine minutes from the end of regulation time ruled out by VAR for offside.

Kyogo Furuhashi’s superb early finish following a slick passing move was cancelled out before the break by Matias Vecino’s header from a corner and the Italians snatched all three points right at the death when substitute Pedro nodded into the corner of the net unmarked at the back post.

The galling nature of the defeat leaves Celtic sitting bottom of Group E and facing an uphill task to qualify from the section with a double-header against La Liga giants Atletico Madrid up next.

Rodgers declared he was “bitterly disappointed” by the outcome but insists his players proved they are Champions League class despite suffering more agony at Europe’s top table.

He said: “We are bitterly disappointed. I felt we totally deserved to take something from the game. We had a great start and scored a great goal. I’m disappointed with the goal we conceded, I felt we could do better with the corner.

“But going into the second half we had control and were getting through them. It looked a matter of time before we could score. We got the goal but unfortunately Daizen (Maeda) just got a touch on it and made it offside. I felt at that point we deserved to be in front, we had got into osme good areas.

“To concede late on was harsh. You have to secure the ball late on. The learning is just managing the game at that late stage. We knocked on the door and there were a lot of positive things in the game. We had control for long spells and looked a threat. I won’t forget that.

“It’s a level where you get punished. There’s a lot of good stuff we can focus on. If you are not going to win it at that stage, you certainly can’t lose it. It’s a learning curve for the young players. We are just disappointed we could get the result for the supporters.”

Rodgers refused to blame centre-back Cameron Carter-Vickers - making a shock comeback from a seven-match injury absence as a second half substitute - for getting robbed off posession in the build up to Pedro’s last-gasp winner.

He added: “There’s no blame on Cam. They obviously steal the ball form him but if we were in a better position we deal with the cross. That’s what we need to learn as a team. We got into some good areas, of course, and sadly it didn’t quite happen at certain moments in the game.

“But I can’t be critical of this group of players for what they’ve given in the game against a good side that have some top quality players. We should have had more.”