Ange Postecoglou admitted Celtic “are not at this level yet” after watching his side blow a lead in Germany to lose a roller-coaster Europa League clash against Bayer Leverkusen.
The Parkhead boss admitted on the eve of the match against the Bundesliga cracks that it was a chance to measure themselves against the best.
But Postecoglou was honest enough to admit they weren’t quite in the same class despite being on course for a famous first-ever win on German soil with ten minutes remaining.
Celtic roared back from going a goal down to a Robert Andrich goal to take the lead through a Josip Juranovic Panenka penalty and Jota strike.
But Andrich netted his second and Moussa Diaby scored a late winner for the home side as Postecoglou was left sickened and out of the Europa League as they take their place in the Conference League after Christmas.
And the Australian said: “We are not at this level yet," before adding on Celtic TV: "It's a tough one.
"We kind of hung in there, gave ourselves a chance to pull off a great result but ultimately they're a good team.
"We didn't finish the game off in the way they could have but credit to the players.
"Leverkusen are a fantastic team. We came to their backyard and gave them a game.
"We just hung in there. We weren't able to control the game the way we wanted to because they have quality in their side and always a threat on the counter so we had to be wary.
"Joe made some big saves and the back four worked really hard and we couldn't hang on but there's still a gap between us and them and that's what we need to bridge."
The defeat ends Celtic's Europa League hopes but they still have Conference League football to look forward to after Christmas.
Postecoglou added: "In all our European games we've taken it to some very good opponents. We know there's a gap between us and the best but we'll bridge that gap if we keep taking this approach whenever we play these teams.
"They knocked us off 4-0 at home and we gave them a bit of a fright here and hopefully next time that gap's even smaller.
"I'm hoping the fans walk away knowing the guys in the green and white hoops gave everything for them and something to shout about."
