Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers praised his side for their spirited fightback in the 1-1 draw with Club Brugge and said every point was valuable at Champions League level.
Rodgers said he had seen “a game of two halves” after his side feel behind to a Cameron Carter-Vickers own goal early on but responded in the second half with a Daizen Maeda strike that earned a draw.
The Belgian visitors had the best of the opening exchanges, and could have been further ahead before the break but Celtic adjusted and created chances of their own that had them leaving the pitch feeling they could have done better.
“I thought first half we were too passive in our pressing,” the manager said. “We were never in contention with them.
“They’re a good side, you can see that. And then they played through that pressure really well. So I thought first half, they were the better team.
“I thought we were the better team in the second half. We got a great goal and they defended well.
“They man-mark so you really have to work the ball and probe and get it side to side to penetrate. And we did that for the goal, a fantastic goal by Daizen.
“From then it felt like we could go on and win the game. But listen, a point at this level, like we saw in Atlanta, it’s so important and I’ve been in enough of these games and sat here enough times to be in a game like that and you end up losing it.
“We didn’t do that. And it’s a great credit to the players and how they fought right to the end.”
Rodgers also praised Carter-Vickers for how he put an uncharacteristic error aside to play his part in Celtic’s fightback. The centre-back failed to note Kasper Schmeichel was out of position when he rolled a pass back towards goal and watched in anguish as it rolled over the line and into the bottom corner of the net.
“Mistakes happen and it was just unfortunate,” he said. “He’s played that pass a million times and it’s gone back and then we’ve been able to play forward.
“It was just one of those unfortunate moments in the game that happens.
“But he’s a really, really tough character. He’s a great guy, he picked himself up.
“He was really strong and aggressive again in the game and got on with it and had a real bravery in the second half, because he was the one carrying the ball forward for us to start the attack.”
Overall, Rodgers was happy to take the positives and look at another point gained as Celtic look to reach the knockout stages.
“We’re still one of those teams that’s really pushing to try and make a mark at this level,” he said.
“So to make the comeback, score the goal, play with that courage, I was so pleased.
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