Among the many comments that followed Celtic’s Champions League exit to AEK Athens one from Brendan Rodgers stood out by a mile.
Interviewed by BT Sport he said: “You shouldn’t have to lose to learn. We needed to strengthen no matter how good we’ve been over the last couple of years.”
Celtic haven’t learned from two high risk escapes in the last two seasons of Champions League qualifiers.
It seems the pain of losing to Maribor and Malmo has also been forgotten. Failure makes Stefan Johansen a £2m player, success makes Stuart Armstrong worth £7m.
In Rodgers first season it took the recruitment of Kolo Toure to secure a place in the group stage, away to Hapoel Beer Sheva it looked like curtains despite twice enjoying a three goal lead in the home tie.
A year ago a five goal home advantage looked vulnerable at one point in Astana as a defensive pairing of Nir Bitton and Kris Ajer was taken apart.
Jozo Simunovic had pulled out of that match shortly before kick off.
Tonight Simunovic was trusted alongside a guy that started last season playing for Dundee after very little game time in England spread between Wigan, Shrewsbury and MK Dons.
The outcome wasn’t a surprise. Tonight’s opening goal was similar to last week’s equaliser, the second came from a poorly defended free kick.
Deep lessons need to be learned from this defeat. The Champions League qualification process is a serious business and essential if the team and balance sheet is to develop.
Dafabet and others won’t be breaking the door down for Thursday night matches in Lithuania.
Will Celtic take the lessons to heart or go on a round of cost cutting and/or asset selling?