The same bad luck, the same mistakes, same lack of ambition to back the manager, the same outcome yet again away from home in Europe. The most annoying thing was that Feyenoord didn’t even play well, they didn’t have too. They were there for the taking but as usual we shot ourselves in the foot.

It was a pretty even game up until stoppage time in the first half when a combination of woefully bad defending between those in the defensive wall and the goalkeeper saw us fall behind.

That was the turning point. The Feyenoord fans were starting to get restless and the players would have been starting to feel the heat, but that goal changed everything and quickly changed the mood in both dressing rooms at the interval.

You could see that in the way Feyenoord started the second half, they were bright and alert, they looked a totally different side. Rejuvenated. Although at 1-0 we always had hope, but this is Celtic in Europe and we knew what was coming.

Then it happened, in the 65th minute. Penalty to Feyenoord. A joke of a decision. It didn’t end there though as Gustav Lagerbielke was given a second yellow even though it was of the soft variety, I’m surprised VAR didn’t overturn it and award the foul on the Swedish defender which is clear to see.

Joe Hart although redeemed himself for his lesser part in the opening goal as he made a fine stop to keep us in the game. The decision to place the smallest man in the Celtic team in the most important spot in the wall was amateurish in the extreme and made worse by the positioning of the wall which was way too far to the left.

That penalty save gave us a glimmer of hope, but that soon evaporated as rookie Odin Thiago Holm was given a straight red in the 69th minute for going into a challenge with his studs too high. It was a rash challenge and really he can have no complaints.

The second goal for Feyenoord just put us out of our misery, even at 1-0 we were never getting back into the game. In the end keeping the score at 2-0 was seen as respectable considering we were down to nine men.

We can’t use the two men down excuse to let us off the hook, Too many key players didn’t turn up tonight. Callum McGregor, Reo Hatate and Kyogo were anonymous. Three of our best players. We needed them tonight and they were posted missing.

Pass marks go to Liam Scales and Matt O’Riley but a year down the road and with £70million sitting in the bank it’s hard to argue that we have gone into this campaign stronger and better prepared that when we played Real Madrid, a much better team than tonight’s opponents.

It might feel better in the cold light of day, but tonight’s feeling is one of massive disappointment and yet another opportunity wasted.

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