Celtic aiming to finish Champions League campaign 'on a high' after 'wasted' night in Rome

Celtic defender Alistair Johnston insists the club will be aiming to finish a disappointing Champions League campaign on a high after a “wasted 90 minutes” in Rome on Tuesday.

The Canada right-back was left frustrated after the Hoops failed to land a punch on Lazio as they fell to a 2-0 defeat against the Serie A side.

It was a result that has summed up Celtic’s efforts amongst the big boys in the last two seasons and leaves them with no chance of European football after Christmas with a game to spare.

They only have one point to show from the campaign that fell apart despite some positive signs from their first three games.

The Scottish champions played well before being reduced to nine-men in the group opener against Feyenoord and were unlucky not to take anything from the home game against Lazio when they suffered a gut wrenching last minute defeat in a game that they would have felt was there for the taking.

Following a respectable 2-2 draw with Atletico, when they took the lead twice before being pegged back by a debatable penalty, the campaign collapsed at the seams with a 6-0 defeat in Madrid.

A lacklustre display in the Italian capital on Tuesday night put an end to any hope of reaching the last-16 or dropping into the Europa League.

Speaking ahead of their return to league action this weekend, Johnstone revealed he was left frustrated by the performance but insisted they can still end the group on a high with a win over Feyenoord in Glasgow.

He said: “It’s disappointing, for sure, but at the same time the campaign isn’t over yet. We have another match, another home match which is always exciting.

“Obviously we would have loved to have gone into that match with something to play for, so it’s frustrating in that aspect, when we look back on it as a whole there was some matches when we performed really and others that we let drift by us a little bit.

“Specifically the last one (against Lazio), it was 0-0 in the 80th minute but we hadn’t really laid a glove on them yet.

“So that’s a frustration for us as we feel as though we wasted 90 minutes there, for a team like us we not only want to get results but we want to show everyone we can play and compete at that level.

“We still have a chance to finish on a high note and that’s we are going to aim to do.”

Celtic travel to St Johnstone on Sunday afternoon as they look to back to winning ways following last weekend’s draw with Motherwell and the 2-0 defeat in Rome.

The league leaders have a chance to go 11 points clear of second placed Rangers for at least a couple of hours if they beat Craig Levein’s side in Perth.