Nygren is backing Celts to hit back with Ibrox victory

IT was a sore one at the time. But after a 10-hour flight left to stew on it, it was a million times worse.

- By Michael Gannon

Benjamin Nygren reckons Tuesday night’s Champions League exit in Kazakhstan felt like rock bottom.

It wasn’t just a bad night for Celtic - it was the worst. Plenty of Hoops fans will feel exactly the same. The 300 diehards who made the 7000-mile trek returned home with their faces tripping them. But it wasn’t a breeze for the squad either.

And now they need to shake off the sense of misery before Sunday - when they head to Ibrox to face a Rangers side marooned even deeper in despair.

Nygren didn’t even attempt to play down Celtic’s own mortifying Euro experience. The shellshocked Swede has made an impressive start at Celtic but the other night in Almaty wasn’t just a bump in the road — it was running face first into a wall. The midfielder admitted he has been dreaming of playing in the Champions League since he was a kid.

And it was absolute agony seeing those ambitions crumble in front of him after the Scottish champions' crash in Kazakhstan.

The postmortem is in full swing, with everyone at Parkhead in the firing line from the board, the manager and the squad.

But Nygren said they need to take the hits because they got what they deserved.