Everything the Celtic boss had to say in the immediate aftermath of his side's 5-1 defeat to Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu...

Ange, not an easy night tonight and made even more difficult by conceding two penalties so early on...

Firstly they are a fantastic football team and they've got some real quality. From our perspective we didn't start the game too badly but they got the two penalties. But we hung in there and at 2-0 we get our penalty... 2-1 maybe doesn't change the outcome but gives us a little bit more belief and puts them under pressure. I guess it's been the story of our campaign but ultimately, yeah, they were too good for us. They're a good side.

With Josip [Juranovic] missing his penalty and then the third going in, were you fearing the worst at that point?

I never fear the worst because we're still trying to play. I'm really proud of our players. I mean, we've lost 5-1 and we understand that against a fantastic football team but the players never stopped trying to play. They created I don't know how many chances but Thibaut Courtois was outstanding. So I don't fear for anything with this group of players. You know, at the end of the day, we've lost to a very good football team but I'm still proud of their efforts.

I was just asking Joe Hartline if he feels that these six games have actually made them better players... he thinks so but is going to wait and find out whether you make it into the competition next year. But what's your take on that?

Yeah, well, that's what I have said before: that's the key for us, to be here every year. I've got no doubt the players have grown from this. If you look at some of our players - Matt O'Riley, Reo Hatate, amongst others - they're growing in every game and this is their sixth game of football at this level. I've got no doubt they'll be better footballers, quite a few of our guys, and we will learn from it but only if we qualify again.

Three games left now before the break - I guess the importance is returning and making sure that you get the right result that you want from each of these?

Just performance. If we perform like that, like we have been, then we will be hard to stop in the league. It took an enormous effort tonight for our boys to try and match it with one of the best football teams in the world. But if we go in there with that intent every week, we'll will be hard to stop.

What's your overwhelming feeling after tonight?

Disappointment for our fans. Disappointed for the players. I wanted them to get more rewards for their efforts and I wanted our supporters to get a bit more joy but I'm certainly not disheartened. You know, I really believe that we're on the right track.

Read Tony Haggerty's detailed player ratings from Real Madrid 5-1 Celtic here