ANGE POSTECOGLOU says he is proud of his players for sticking to their principles in defeat to Real Betis, with the

Celtic

manager ‘bullish’ about the progress his team are making.

Postecoglou’s side went down by four goals to three after a rollercoaster of a night in Seville, with Celtic taking a two-goal lead before being pegged back by Manuel Pellegrini’s men.

The Australian says though that he saw enough in his team’s performance despite their defensive frailties to know that they are on the right path.

“I’ve got mixed emotions,” Postecoglou said. “I’m really proud of the team and the football we played.

“The opposition are a very good team, we’re away from home and the football was good, but they obviously have some quality. There were periods of the game where they got momentum and some big goals.

“On the other side of that, we had other opportunities to go further ahead, so it’s disappointing that the players didn’t get the rewards for the efforts they showed.

“I was really proud of the football we played and the efforts the players put in. We showed some resilience to show that irrespective of circumstances, we will be a certain kind of football team.

“Don’t get me wrong, I’m disappointed we didn’t win tonight, and I’m disappointed the players didn’t get their rewards, but it doesn’t deter my bullishness about where we’re heading.

“We’re just going to get stronger, there’s no doubt about that. Tonight, that’s our baseline against a very good opponent.

“We’ll get some players back who are going to help us absolutely, particularly to settle the team down a bit. We’ll be stronger.

“Hopefully over the next week to 10 days we’ll have three or four back.

“You come to these games to measure yourself. You can come here and shy away from the fight and try to get a 0-0 draw, and you don’t really know how far away you are from beating quality opposition.

“We wanted to take the game to a good team tonight, and I don’t think there was much between the sides. They won, but there was an equal amount of chances for both sides for large parts.”