Alistair Johnston spoke after Celtic’s monumental efforts in the Champions League knockouts against Bayern Munich, and said that he’s not disappointed, but immensely proud of this Celtic team…

A 1-1 draw with Bayern on the night ended up so cruel, as the Germans scored with the last kick of the ball from a tackle on Cameron Carter-Vickers inside the box.

‘Disappointment is definitely not the word that comes to my mind’

It was a lesson in seeing it right through to the bitter end and a reminder that at this level, everything can change in a flash. Despite that though, Johnston was particularly philosophical about the whole thing even though it hurts, saying: “It’s vivid right now. It’s tough to really put into words, but again, disappointment is definitely not the word that comes to my mind. It was a heroic performance from everyone out there. I mean, this is, again, this is one of the best teams in the world. There’s no two ways about that.”

Speaking to BBC Sport Scotland, he continued: “Coming to their place where they’ve got an unbelievable home record, not only in the league, but in Europe as well. We held our own. They needed a last kick of the game to equalise and get through against us. So that’s obviously the part that hurts.

‘I’m really proud of this group’

“You know, we put so much into it to not get, you know, the reward of potentially going through. But even then, if we kept that, we’re still going to need to go into extra time and going to need to find a way to dig in there, which I think we showed we had that ability to dig in. But no, I’m really proud of this group.

AJ reckons it’s a performance that will echo through the world of football too, as it’s very rare Bayern are taken the distance in Munich. “I think that a lot of people would have written us off going to this length, you know, going down, being down a goal down on aggregate and coming to this amazing stadium, an amazing crowd, an amazing team,” he said. “For us to show up like that, I think it will have a lot of respect not only in Europe, but around the globe.”

‘Disappointment is definitely not the word that comes to mind. It was a heroic performance from everyone’ 🙌

Celtic’s Alistair Johnston after his side’s cruel Champions League exit ⤵️#BBCFootball #UCL pic.twitter.com/iHD2wLX3rZ

— BBC Sport Scotland (@BBCSportScot) February 18, 2025

Paul Gillespie