Celtic’s European adventure for this season has ended but as another Irish manager mentioned in 2011- this is just the beginning.
The roller-coaster that started in Gibraltar in July will wind up in Manchester in a fortnight with many lessons learned along the road.
Brendan Rodgers has transformed a side from Europa League failures into one that can pack out Celtic Park, stand toe to toe with clubs from the richest leagues in the game and put up a sound showing.
Tonight against the might of Barcelona two native Scots, Stuart Armstrong and Callum McGregor were pitted against the richest and most envied team in the sport.
Neither midfielder excelled but they were given a vote of confidence from their manager and gained more from that 90 minutes than they picked up from the entirety of last season’s Europa League run.
In the end it took two goals from Lionel Messi to beat Celtic, one from the penalty spot with Rodgers hard at work already preparing for next seasons qualifiers with a squad miles better than the lot he inherited during the summer.