There was an incredible atmosphere inside Celtic Park when the game kicked off, and Liel Abada almost opened the scoring after just 30 seconds with a shot that Thibaut Courtois did well to save.

And the Belgian goalkeeper denied the Israeli winger later in the first half as well after he’d been set up by a superb through ball from Jota.

Callum McGregor was millimetres away from giving Celtic the lead when his shot from the edge of the box crashed off the inside of the post before it was cleared.

And then early in the second-half, Daizen Maeda, on as a substitute for Abada, squandered an opportunity from six yards out.

“It is fine margins,” said the manager. “There was a little bit where we were unlucky in that instance (Callum McGregor’s shot) but I thought we had other chances where we just weren’t as clinical as we had been and at this level you have to be, and we missed an opportunity to put some pressure on them.

'I think every game is going to be tough and every game we’ve got to understand that it’s a fine margin between success and failure, and we’ve just to make sure we’re more clinical at both ends of the field.'

And the Hoops boss also had some praise for the Celtic support, who generated an incredible atmosphere and backed the team from first minute until the last.

“Our fans were outstanding,” he said. “This is a special football club and that’s where the responsibility lies on me to get this football club back to where it belong, and that’s competing against the likes of Real Madrid and playing at this level on a regular basis because that’s what they deserve.”

Manager: At this level we need to be clinical with our chances