Celtic were left to curse yet another night of missed chances as their European campaign came to a spluttering halt.
Neil Lennon's side created a host of opportunities, just as they did in previous group matches, only for a combination of poor finishing and carelessness to let them down once again. In contrast Milan, aided by some terrible defending, were far more clinical.
"It's very hard for all the players just now," said defender Emilio Izaguirre. "We don't have any more European football so all we can do is try our best in the league and the cup. It's very disappointing that we lost two goals from corner kicks. Milan were very strong at set-pieces.
"We had so many chances but didn't take them. That makes it difficult to succeed. Virgil [van Dijk, pictured] had a great chance, Biram [Kayal] had one and Charlie [Mulgrew]. It's difficult when you miss that many chances and don't score a goal. We had chances not just tonight but over the five games."
The result compounded a tough few days for Mikael Lustig. Earlier in the week the Swede's his chances of playing in next summer's World Cup finals was ended by a Ronaldo-inspired Portugal, and now his dream of reaching the last 16 of the Champions League is also in tatters. "They have been big losses," he said. "If I speak for myself, I think I played quite well. However, I had a real big dream about going to the World Cup. That's over. I also know what it's like to play in the last 16 of the Champions League. But now that's over. So it's very hard for me. Of course it's been a bad week for me. But you need to move on and pick yourself up."
Celtic sold Victor Wanyama, Gary Hooper and Kelvin Wilson during the summer and Lustig, who may now bring forward a hip operation, admitted the quality of the squad was not as strong this season. "Did a lack of quality cost us? Yes, of course. You can say we were unlucky and we created many chances but in the end it is quality. Compared to last year I think we maybe created more chances but we have not been good enough to score goals. I think we played decent football but if you want to win at this level you need something extra and we haven't had it in this campaign."
Mulgrew, though, felt Celtic had been good enough to compete in the group and hoped the team could return to the Champions League arena next season. "We felt we were strong enough and that we could compete. We proved that with the chances we created. So we have a strong enough squad. We just maybe never got the bits of luck we had last year. Our main focus is to make sure we're back here next year."
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