Callum McGregor said that the pain of seeing Celtic eliminated by Bayern Munich could not reduce the pride he felt in the excellent performance on his side.
The Scottish champions challenged their helpless state to take the game to the German giants and threatened Manuel Neuer's goal several times before moving forward through an effort of the second half of Nicolas Kuhn.
Maintaining its composure and frustrating the local side when the clock was reduced in the Allianz Aren The final minute of the detention time to crush the European dream of Parkhead team.
When asked where the occasion was classified in terms of other European parties in which he had been involved, McGregor said: 'Probably one of the most cruel, to be honest.
'The performance that the players gave … they gave absolutely everything and pushed a very good Bayern side until death, basically the last kick of the ball.
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'And sometimes football is cruel, you don't always get what you deserve.
'But I have to say that I am very, very proud of the players and the way they played, the way they were handled.
'They gave him absolutely everything. So, we leave the field without regrets.
Munich scored only a few seconds after Adam Idah seemed to have received a foul when Celtic tried to win the tie in 90 minutes.
When asked if it was a factor, McGregor added: 'Listen, it can be. Obviously, we really don't want to use things like that as an excuse.
'We go directly to the game and there are small bits that can be different.
'But listening, the boys gave an incredible effort and I want to focus on that because the performance was exceptional.
“So yes, it is a real and real sore, but I think we can be proud of ourselves.”
Nicolas Kuhn had given Celtic a shock advantage after 63 minutes
McGregor said there was a true belief that Celtic could finish the job once Kuhn scored.
“We believe the game is there,” he continued. 'The game for the game was perfect.
'They were frustrating things, shooting from outside the box, all these things, so the game was perfect for us.
“He was prepared to try to notice the next one too, and even if we had to spend extra time, we still like it too.”
Having described for the play-off round just to fall short against Bayern, McGregor believes that the campaign will remain a great success.
“Yes, a lot of belief, a lot of confidence, a lot of growth in children and players and the team,” he reflected.
“And we have to tell that and continue building about that because I think anyone who sees that football game tonight will see a very good Celtic team.”