Celtic star Callum McGregor has conceded that his side were struggling for confidence towards the end of their clash against Valencia on Thursday night.
Valencia scored a 2-0 away win over Celtic in the first leg of their Europa League last 32 tie and have taken a big step towards progressing in the competition.
Conceding two away goals has dented Celtic’s chances of making it to the last 16 and they are no facing an uphill battle to turn the tie around at the Mestalla next week.
McGregor admits Valencia are one of the best teams he has played against in recent times and the defensive organisation they showed to thwart Celtic was commendable.
He conceded that Valencia’s defensive resilience eventually had an effect on Celtic’s confidence towards the end as they struggled to create any chances against the Spanish giants.
The Celtic star was quoted as saying by the Herald Scotland: “They are right up there with some of the best teams I have played against.
“They are really defensively organised, they almost give you comfort in the game and then one sloppy pass and then you are done on the counter.
“I think our confidence did go a bit.
"You could see it in the last 20-25 minutes, we weren’t getting through them as much as we would have wanted and defensively they were solid.”
However, the midfielder has not given up hope of progressing in the Europa League and feels that Celtic must believe that an early away goal in Spain could still turn the tie around.
“But it is important that we learn from that tonight, and then when we go out there try to start well in the game, and if we can nick a goal that changes the tie completely. It kind of reverses it.
“We have seen 2-0 scorelines so many times when teams think they have comfort, they lose a goal and the whole thing falls apart.
“That is the mindset we need to take next week.”
