The disappointment of Celtic’s Champions League exit was especially painful for Aiden McGeady.
After three consecutive season’s with the biggest names in the game visiting Celtic Park he would have been looking forward to more of the same with greater responsibility thanks to his new role under Tony Mowbray.
Over the two games, regardless of dodgy decisions and lucky goals, there was no doubting that Arsenal deserved to go through but at no point did Celtic put them under any sustained pressure or get close to playing the type of football that supporters had hoped to see.
McGeady sets himself high standards, and doesn’t dodge the issue when it comes down to his, or the teams, shortcomings.
After the defeat at the Emirates he admitted: “There’s a difference in quality, Arsenal get the ball down and every one of their players wants the ball and is comfortable, they want to play the ball forward.
“Over the two legs we thought that we could have got closer to Arsenal. In the first leg they got two lucky goals, but we never did ourselves justice and it’s been the same story again.
“Arsenal are one of the teams that could win the Champions League. The Europa League won’t be as strong as that, although there will be some good teams in it.
“Hopefully we can do ourselves justice in that competition instead of coming to the Emirates, not playing well and not doing ourselves justice.”
