Brendan Rodgers insists Celtic ARE Champions League class despite more agony at elite level after Lazio sucker punch

Brendan Rodgers insists his side are Champions League class despite more agony at Europe’s top table.

Celtic suffered late heartache as Lazio’s Pedro struck a 95th minute winner to sicken Parkhead – with the Hoops also seeing a late Luis Palma strike ruled out by VAR for offside. Kyogo saw a stunning opener cancelled out before the break and Rodgers admitted it was a galling loss that leaves his side bottom of Group E. But he refused to be down despite facing a huge task to qualify from the section with a double header against big guns Atletico Madrid.

Rodgers said: “We are bitterly disappointed. We felt we deserved something from the game. We scored a great goal. We could do better from the corner for the goal we conceded. But going into the second half we had control and were getting through. It looked a matter of time before we scored.

“We got the goal but unfortunately Daizen Maeda got the final touch was offside. There were a lot of positive things in the game. You saw the second half, we had control for long spells and looked a threat. I won’t forget that. It’s a level where you get punished. It was harsh. There’s a lot of good stuff we can focus on. If you are not going to win it at that stage you certainly can’t lose it. It’s a learning curve for the young players. We are just disappointed we couldn’t get the result for the supporters.”

Rodgers refused to point the finger at Cameron Carter-Vickers who was heroic after making a shock return from injury from the bench but got caught out for the winner. He said: “There’s no blame on Cam. They obviously steal the ball from him but if we were in a better portion we deal with the cross. That’s what we need to learn as a team.

“We got into some good areas of course and