Gordon Strachan saluted Celtic's achievement of progressing to the last 16 of the UEFA Champions League.
Hoops boss hails 'wonderful' achievement
Gordon Strachan saluted Celtic's achievement of progressing to the last 16 of the UEFA Champions League for the second year running.
Despite going down 1-0 to Milan in the San Siro, Celtic qualified in second place behind the reigning European champions from Group D as Shakhtar Donetsk suffered a 2-1 home defeat at the hands of Benfica.
Filippo Inzaghi scored the only goal of the game in the 70th minute, breaking Gerd Muller's European scoring record with his 63rd in continental competition in the process.
But the Scottish giants were still able to celebrate at the final whistle with nine points from their six games enough to send them through.
Wonderful
Strachan told
Sky Sports: "To get through is just wonderful for the club.
"We must be pleased to get out of that group. I think that could have been the hardest group.
"It's the second year on the trot, with a new bunch of players. We've got a few injuries and a few tired bodies."
Celtic continue to struggle on their travels in Europe, and Strachan admitted that their defence is a worry, although his hand is being forced by injuries.
He added: "There was no clean sheet again. If we want to get better in Europe, and even in our home league, we must improve on that.
"The space here came around the full-backs, and we've got two centre-halves playing there. Fair play to them, they're trying their best, but it's hard for them at the moment.
"They're giving it a good shot, especially Gary Caldwell. He's not the quickest thing on two legs, but he gets up there and he tries to play the game the right way. It's not easy for us."
Tanner tribute
And Strachan admitted the Celtic bench were indebted to Sky Sports reporter David Tanner, who provided regular updates on events from Donetsk as time ran down.
Speaking to Tanner, Strachan joked: "In the last 20 minutes after they scored you were the most important man on our bench, because everyone kept looking at you to get the thumbs up.
"Near the end, in the last couple of minutes, I had a look at you and you seemed to be quite confident, so that was alright."
