SCOTT McDonald insists Celtic will soldier on in their bid to make Champions League progress but admits the chances of Gordon Strachan's side reaching the last 16 are "not good".
The 1-0 loss against Villarreal in Spain has left the Scottish champions bottom of Group E with one point from two games, ahead of a daunting double-header against holders Manchester United.
The defeat, inflicted by Marcos Senna's second-half fre
e kick strike, extended Celtic's depressing away record in the Champions League which has now seen them pick up only one point from a possible 48 away from Glasgow in group games.
But Australia international McDonald will not yet settle for a Uefa Cup spot this season. Asked about the chances of making the last 16 of the Champions League for a third season in succession, he replied: "Not good obviously. We are bottom of the table with Aalborg, due to drawing with them at home.
"That's not good but there are still another four games remaining which is a long way to go and it's certainly not over.
"We have two games away to Aalborg and Manchester United, although we know going to Old Trafford in the next game is not going to be easy.
"They have their big player back, in Ronaldo, although they have some other excellent players as well. But we will see how we do at Old Trafford."
McDonald started on the bench against Villarreal as manager Strachan went with a 4-5-1 formation which was spearheaded by Georgios Samaras.
The Greek striker missed a crucial chance just before the break, when he raced through on goal only to fire his shot straight at goalkeeper Diego Lopez.
Former Motherwell player McDonald, who has been used sporadically so far by Strachan despite being top scorer in Scotland last season, came on after Celtic had slipped behind. He almost rescued a point late on with a wonderful volley which just cleared the bar but insists the Parkhead side can take heart from their performance.
He said: "For a second I thought it was in but it just didn't dip enough. I probably hit it too well. But there was a lot of encouragement to take from the game, that's probably the most we've created in an away game since I've been here.
"I thought the boys were excellent up until the goal and then obviously we had to go and chase the game.
"Villarreal passed the ball well as we knew they would. I had my chance near the end and unfortunately it didn't go in for us.
"One of these days it's going to happen for us, hopefully. Someone will score, an own goal or a 30-yarder. But we didn't get anything again so we have to battle on and try again.
"It's back to the league now and we have to concentrate on that until the Champions League comes around again."
Most of the Celtic camp were enraged by referee Viktor Kassai's decision to award the crucial free kick for a challenge by Paul Hartley on Joseba Llorente.
Defender Gary Caldwell, for example, said: "The free kick was soft and I thought they got a lot of soft free kicks in the second half around our box.
"They are very clever, they go down very easily at times and it's something that we have to learn. We have to do it in their half, to get those free kicks to give us breathing space."
However, Celtic captain Stephen McManus put more stress on the quality of the opposition, who reached the semi-finals of the Champions League two seasons ago and are top of the Spanish league.
McManus said: "At that time I thought it was a wee bit soft but that's what happens in European football.
"You never think it was going to be your night, you are too busy running your socks off. We were up against a top side.
"We made a few chances and we are bitterly disappointed but again we have to take the positives and say that we came away from home and made a lot of chances, something that we haven't done before."
The full article contains 704 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
