Football
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Stefan Johansen says Celtic didn't show their quality in Europa League

Stefan Johansen surveyed Celtic's doomed Europa League campaign and concluded that the Parkhead side were simply not good enough.

A creditable 1-1 draw against Fenerbahce in Istanbul on Thursday night left the Hoops with just three points from six Group A fixtures, with their exit from the competition confirmed before they flew to Turkey.

Johansen, doubtful for the trip to St Johnstone on Sunday after suffering an "unnecessary" kick from Diego after the break which saw the Brazilian midfielder shown a red card, was in no mood to sugar-coat the campaign -- although he remains confident that Celtic can improve in Europe following more experience.

He told Press Association Sport: "We need to be honest and just say to everybody that we haven't been good enough this year.

"We have struggled. We were close to getting into the Champions League but we didn't make that.

"We had a tough Europa League group of course, we need to say that.

"But even if it is the Europa League and the fans expect Champions League, we wanted to go out there and give them what they earn, good European nights.

"I think we have the quality but this year we haven't shown up when the big games were there for us.

"I know the fans expect more and us players expect much more also. But this year we didn't manage it and we need to learn from it.

"We have a lot of young players doing really well like Kieran Tierney and Scott Allan came in and played well. 

"So it is about experience I know the fans expect more and us players expect much more also.

"That is how it is but we can't dig ourselves down into the ground for that reason, we are still in both of the cups and in front in the league so it can still be a very good season."

The Norway midfielder was booked early on for a foul on Diego, with the Fenerbahce star also shown a yellow card for his reaction, and Johansen acknowledged that the Scottish champions benefited from his opponent's folly in the second half when the home side were in control.

Johansen said: "We wanted to go out there and set the standard so I made a hard tackle on him and it was a bit of a fight. But I think what he did in the second half was unnecessary.

"I stopped him running and he kicked me. It was a clear red card, the referee was two metres away and he saw it.

"It was not even a challenge, he just kicked me straight after a tackle. He obviously got heated up but that is football sometimes.

"Hopefully I can make it [for Sunday]. It is just a bit painful. It was on the knee but that is how football is.

"I love a fight and I don't mind it. Sometimes these things happen, we got an advantage from that and that was good in our favour.

"They had a lot of the ball but when they went down to 10 men it was easier for us to get higher up the pitch and in the end Kris [Commons] came on and scored a great goal."

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